Anchored burning bijections on finite and infinite graphs

Let $G$ be an infinite graph such that each tree in the wired uniform spanning forest on $G$ has one end almost surely. On such graphs $G$, we give a family of continuous, measure preserving, almost one-to-one mappings from the wired spanning forest on $G$ to recurrent sandpiles on $G$, that we call anchored burning bijections. In the special case of $\mathbb{Z}^d$, $d \ge 2$, we show how the anchored bijection, combined with Wilson's stacks of arrows construction, as well as other known results on spanning trees, yields a power law upper bound on the rate of convergence to the sandpile measure along any exhaustion of $\mathbb{Z}^d$. We discuss some open problems related to these findings.Comment: 26 pages; 1 EPS figure. Minor alterations made after comments from refere

Deficits in the activation of human oculomotor nuclei in chronic traumatic brain injury

Binocular eye movements form a finely tuned system that requires accurate coordination of the oculomotor dynamics of the brainstem control nuclei when tracking the fine binocular disparities required for 3D vision. They are particularly susceptible to disruption by brain injury and other neural dysfunctions. Here, we report functional magnetic resonance imaging activation of the brainstem oculomotor control nuclei by binocular saccadic and vergence eye movements, and significant reductions in their response amplitudes in mild or diffuse traumatic brain injury (dTBI). Bilateral signals were recorded from a non-TBI control group (n = 11) in the oculomotor control system of the superior colliculi, the oculomotor nuclei, the abducens nuclei, and in the supra-oculomotor area (SOA), which mediate vergence eye movements. Signals from these nuclei were significantly reduced overall in a dTBI group (n = 12) and in particular for the SOA for vergence movements, which also showed significant decreases in velocity for both the convergence and divergence directions

Huichol Migrant Laborers and Pesticides: Structural Violence and Cultural Confounders

Every year, around two thousand Huichol families migrate from their homelands in the highlands of northwestern Mexico to the coastal region of Nayarit State, where they are employed on small plantations to pick and thread tobacco leaves. During their four-month stay, they live, work, eat, and sleep in the open air next to the tobacco fields, exposing themselves to an unknown cocktail of pesticides all day, every day. In this article, I describe how these indigenous migrants are more at risk to pesticides because historical and contemporary structural factors ensure that they live and work in the way of harm. I discuss the economic, social, political, and racial inequalities that exist in their every-day environment and how these forms of structural violence are mitigated by their intersection with local cultural contexts and their specific indigenous lifeworld

WHEN ASPERGER’S DISORDER CAME OUT

Background: In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association removed Asperger’s Disorder from the DSM, offering instead the new DSM-5 diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder. This change has been hailed the most controversial exclusion from the DSM, yet unlike the 1973 removal of homosexuality from DSM-III, Asperger’s disorder has not been demedicalised. Rather, the disorder has simply been reclassified as part of the DSM-5 Autism Spectrum and therefore retains its fundamental characteristic as a mental disorder owing to its inclusion within the sphere of the DSM. Methods: This paper is based on a review of the current academic literature in conjunction with careful reading of the DSM-5. Results: Removing the Asperger’s label, valued by patients for its distinctiveness from autism brings with it the potential to inflict iatrogenic harm. Discussion: This paper demonstrates how the DSM-5 reclassification has the potential to threaten the identity of those affected, and discusses the problem of autism as a stigmatizing diagnostic label. Conclusions: A case is made for the use of tandem social/colloquial – medical/technical terminology to refer to the conditions classified under DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder, in order to square the circle of social concerns regarding identity and stigma with the need for diagnostic clarity to continue to advance medical practice

"You see, we women, we can't talk, we can't have an opinion...". The coloniality of gender and childbirth practices in Indigenous Wixarika families

How women make decisions about care-seeking during pregnancy and childbirth, is a key determinant of maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes. Indigenous communities continue to display the highest levels of maternal and infant mortality in Mexico, a fact often accounted for by reference to inadequate access to quality services. A growing body of research has identified gender inequality as a major determinant of MCH, although this has rarely been situated historically in the context of major social and epistemological shifts, that occurred under colonialism. I used a feminist ethnography to understand the structural determinants of Indigenous maternal health. I drew on research about the colonial and post-colonial origins of ethnic and gender inequality in Mexico and specifically the Wixárika Indigenous region, in order to identify the different ways in which women have historically been disadvantaged, and the processes, situations and interaction dynamics that emerged from this. Sixty-four Wixárika women were interviewed while pregnant, and followed up after the birth of their child between January 2015 and April 2017. These data were triangulated with structured observations and key informant interviews with healthcare providers, teachers, community representatives and family members. The findings suggest that gender inequalities were introduced with the colonial system for governing Indigenous regions, and became naturalised as Wixárika communities were increasingly integrated into the Mexican nation. The associated structures of marriage, community and interpersonal relationships now operate as forms of institutionalised gender oppression, to increase Indigenous women's vulnerability, and influence decisions made about care and childbirth. Ethnographic data analysed in historical context evidence the continuity of colonial forms of inequality, and their impact on wellbeing. While welfare and health programmes increasingly aim to address gender inequality on social and relational levels, by rebalancing gendered household dynamics or empowering women, the historical and colonial roots of these inequalities remain unchallenged

Coloniality and the political economy of gender: Edgework in Juárez City

The manner in which urban locations are drawn into the global economy defines their spatial organisation, distribution and utilisation. The relationships that are generated by this process include economic exchanges, racialised dynamics between workers and owners, gendered divisions of labour and the use and abuse of natural resources and infrastructure. These encounters of globalisation are often unequal or awkward and mediated by varying forms of violence, from structural to interpersonal, as these are used to rebalance the terms on which they meet. Using coloniality as an analytical tool, this article discusses the delicate balance of these Western-led encounters. Globalisation has become colonial by embedding hierarchical relationships in the foundations of the modern political economy. Gender identities, whiteness and non-whiteness, developed and underdeveloped are continually redefined, stigmatising certain groups and locations while elevating others on the basis of colonial power dynamics. Through a case study of the US–Mexico border city of Juárez, this article examines ethnographic work in its global context to explore how shame has become attached to male identities in locations of urban marginality. Theorising around the coloniality of urban space production, I discuss how Juárez’s border location has shaped its development though gendered and racialised frictions that are kept in check with violence. A coloniality perspective enables the unpicking of dominant conceptions of industrial cities in the Global South as metonyms for underdevelopment. Using the concept of edgework, I draw out how violence oils the wheels of globalisation to renegotiate damaged identities in contexts of territorial stigma

Masculinities on the Continuum of Structural Violence: The Case of Mexico’s Homicide Epidemic

Through the theoretical lens of a “violence continuum” we explore how, in many of the most marginalized areas of Mexico, global and regional historical and contemporary structures have shaped and constrained men’s ability to achieve the hegemonic masculinity of neoliberal Mexico. An analysis of statistics and local research studies on male homicide is used to understand how impoverishment and extreme inequality can undermine men’s capacity to access a dignified standard of living and exercise their masculinity, in the process of which many draw on interpersonal violence as a resource for respect and manhood