Transnational corporations and human rights: an institutional responsibilities framework

This thesis argues that transnational corporations (TNCs) bear primarily negative moral duties in relation to human rights, i.e. to avoid doing harm, and that they can be held responsible when they fail to discharge such duties. Thus, their duties are not primarily to protect human rights, as some commentators have argued. To defend the negative duties claim, I detail ways in which corporations inflict harm not only directly through their operations, but also by shaping and supporting a global institutional arrangement that foreseeably and avoidably produces human rights harms. Therefore, the negative duties of corporations should be understood to include refraining from engaging in harmful institutional practices, or participating overall in a harmful institutional order without providing adequate compensation to the victims of harm. If they fail to do so, TNCs can be held accountable for the negative outcomes engendered by the global order

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Seminario de Investigación Académica I - HU159 - 202101

Descripción: Seminario de Investigacioìn Académica I es un primer acercamiento a la investigación bibliográfica y a la elaboración de textos académicos. El curso permite al estudiante delimitar un problema de investigación y profundizar en las diversas posturas en torno al mismo, resumiendo los antecedentes académicos que existan hasta la fecha de elaboración del documento. Propósito: Es un curso teorico-práctico, de formación general dirigido a estudiantes de los ciclos 2 y 3 de las facultades de Comunicaciones, Economìa e Ingenierìa, y de las carreras de Gastronomìa y Gestión Culinaria y Música. Tiene como prerrequisito el curso HU03 Comprensión y Producción de Lenguaje I. Este curso contribuye al desarrollo en nivel 1 de dos competencias generales de nuestra universidad: Manejo de la información y Comunicación Escrita. Por ello, cumple un rol formativo e instrumental tanto para la vida 1universitaria como para la profesional, pues sienta las bases y proporciona experiencia en actividades propias de la investigacioìn académic

Seminario de Investigación Académica I - HU159 - 202102

Descripción: Seminario de Investigacioìn Académica I es un primer acercamiento a la investigación bibliográfica y a la elaboración de textos académicos. El curso permite al estudiante delimitar un problema de investigación y profundizar en las diversas posturas en torno al mismo, resumiendo los antecedentes académicos que existan hasta la fecha de elaboración del documento. Propósito: Es un curso teorico-práctico, de formación general dirigido a estudiantes de los ciclos 2 y 3 de las facultades de Comunicaciones, Economìa e Ingenierìa, y de las carreras de Gastronomìa y Gestión Culinaria y Música. Tiene como prerrequisito el curso HU03 Comprensión y Producción de Lenguaje I. Este curso contribuye al desarrollo en nivel 1 de dos competencias generales de nuestra universidad: Manejo de 1la información y Comunicación Escrita. Por ello, cumple un rol formativo e instrumental tanto para la vida universitaria como para la profesional, pues sienta las bases y proporciona experiencia en actividades propias de la investigacioìn académica. Así mismo, tiene como pre requisito Comprensión y Producción del Lenguaje

Inclusive J/ψ\psi production in Xe–Xe collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.44 TeV

Inclusive J/$\psi$ production is studied in Xe-Xe interactions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}= 5.44$ TeV, using the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The J/$\psi$ meson is reconstructed via its decay into a muon pair, in the centre-of-mass rapidity interval $2.5<y<4$ and down to zero transverse momentum. In this Letter, the nuclear modification factors $R_{\rm AA}$ for inclusive J/$\psi$, measured in the centrality range 0-90% as well as in the centrality intervals 0-20% and 20-90% are presented. The $R_{\rm AA}$ values are compared to previously published results for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}= 5.02$ TeV and to the calculation of a transport model. A good agreement is found between Xe-Xe and Pb-Pb results as well as between data and the model

Real-time data processing in the ALICE High Level Trigger at the LHC

International audienceAt the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, atomic nuclei are collided at ultra-relativistic energies. Many final-state particles are produced in each collision and their properties are measured by the ALICE detector. The detector signals induced by the produced particles are digitized leading to data rates that are in excess of 48 GB/s. The ALICE High Level Trigger (HLT) system pioneered the use of FPGA- and GPU-based algorithms to reconstruct charged-particle trajectories and reduce the data size in real time. The results of the reconstruction of the collision events, available online, are used for high level data quality and detector-performance monitoring and real-time time-dependent detector calibration. The online data compression techniques developed and used in the ALICE HLT have more than quadrupled the amount of data that can be stored for offline event processing

Anisotropic flow in Xe-Xe collisions at sNN=5.44\mathbf{\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 5.44} TeV

The first measurements of anisotropic flow coefficients vn for mid-rapidity charged particles in Xe–Xe collisions at sNN=5.44 TeV are presented. Comparing these measurements to those from Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV, v2 is found to be suppressed for mid-central collisions at the same centrality, and enhanced for central collisions. The values of v3 are generally larger in Xe–Xe than in Pb–Pb at a given centrality. These observations are consistent with expectations from hydrodynamic predictions. When both v2 and v3 are divided by their corresponding eccentricities for a variety of initial state models, they generally scale with transverse density when comparing Xe–Xe and Pb–Pb, with some deviations observed in central Xe–Xe and Pb–Pb collisions. These results assist in placing strong constraints on both the initial state geometry and medium response for relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Energy dependence of exclusive J/ψ\mathrm {J}/\psi photoproduction off protons in ultra-peripheral p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02\sqrt{s_{\mathrm {\scriptscriptstyle NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

International audienceThe ALICE Collaboration has measured the energy dependence of exclusive photoproduction of $\mathrm {J}/\psi$ vector mesons off proton targets in ultra–peripheral p–Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV. The e$^+$ e$^-$ and $\mu ^+\mu ^-$ decay channels are used to measure the cross section as a function of the rapidity of the $\mathrm {J}/\psi$ in the range $-2.5< y < 2.7$ , corresponding to an energy in the $\gamma$ p centre-of-mass in the interval $40< W_{\gamma \mathrm {p}}<550$ GeV. The measurements, which are consistent with a power law dependence of the exclusive $\mathrm {J}/\psi$ photoproduction cross section, are compared to previous results from HERA and the LHC and to several theoretical models. They are found to be compatible with previous measurements

Study of J/ψ\psi azimuthal anisotropy at forward rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 TeV

International audienceThe second (v$_{2}$) and third (v$_{3}$) flow harmonic coefficients of J/ψ mesons are measured at forward rapidity (2.5 < y < 4.0) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. Results are obtained with the scalar product method and reported as a function of transverse momentum, p$_{T}$, for various collision centralities. A positive value of J/ψ v$_{3}$ is observed with 3.7σ significance. The measurements, compared to those of prompt D$^{0}$ mesons and charged particles at mid-rapidity, indicate an ordering with v$_{n}$(J/ψ) < v$_{n}$(D$^{0}$) < v$_{n}$(h$^{±}$) (n = 2, 3) at low and intermediate p$_{T}$ up to 6 GeV/c and a convergence with v$_{2}$(J/ψ) ≈ v$_{2}$(D$^{0}$) ≈ v$_{2}$(h$^{±}$) at high p$_{T}$ above 6–8 GeV/c. In semi-central collisions (5–40% and 10–50% centrality intervals) at intermediate p$_{T}$ between 2 and 6 GeV/c, the ratio v$_{3}$/v$_{2}$ of J/ψ mesons is found to be significantly lower (4.6σ) with respect to that of charged particles. In addition, the comparison to the prompt D$^{0}$-meson ratio in the same p$_{T}$ interval suggests an ordering similar to that of the v$_{2}$ and v$_{3}$ coefficients. The J/ψ v$_{2}$ coefficient is further studied using the Event Shape Engineering technique. The obtained results are found to be compatible with the expected variations of the eccentricity of the initial-state geometry