New contributions to the native and alien flora in riparian habitats of the Cantabrian watershed (Northern Spain)

As a result of a floristic survey carried out in riparian habitats of northern Spain, new chorological data are provided for 9 alien and 6 native plant species. Some species are reported for the first time at regional scale, such as Carex strigosa, Helianthus x laetiflorus and Persicaria pensylvanica in Cantabria. Also noteworthy is the finding of naturalised populations of the North American grass Muhlenbergia schreberi at the Urumea river basin, which represents the second reference for the Iberian Peninsula.

Investigative journalism in Mexico: between ideals and realities. The case of Morelia

The aim of this paper is to analyse the state of the investigative journalism in Mexico, especially the one that is practiced at the local level in the provinces. That is, this research is based upon a case study conducted in Morelia, the capital city of the state of Michoacán. The empirical evidence will show that there is an evident divergence regarding the practice of the investigative journalism: on the one hand, journalists are aware of what this concept involves and they consider that they practice it on a regular basis; but, on the other, the content analysis prove otherwise. In other words, the account of what is actually printed significantly differs from the news workers’ perceptions, because the former shows a poorly developed journalistic investigation practice.

VIOLA MUSIC FROM THE AMERICAS: MUSIC FROM CANADA, UNITED STATES, CUBA, VENEZUELA, MEXICO, AND BRAZIL

The enthusiasm towards writing music for the viola that flourished in the early 1900’s thanks to the efforts of a number of twentieth-century violists and composers rapidly spilled over to North and South America. Viola works by American and Canadian composers have already become cornerstones of the viola repertoire worldwide. On the other hand, compositions from other parts of the American continent remain lesser known outside of their country of origin. This is due in part to the less developed publishing and recording industry in these countries which makes it difficult for performers and programmers from other countries to buy or rent performing materials. As a violist born and trained in Venezuela, performing works by important Latin American composers to new audiences is deeply important to me. This dissertation was completed by performing selected works by Canadian, American, Cuban, Mexican, Brazilian, and Venezuelan composers. Composers from these countries have mixed their rich musical traditions with modern compositional techniques, creating original works that have greatly enriched the viola repertoire. This eclectic mixture of styles makes the music from Latin American composers not only very different from that of American and Canadian composers, but also very different from those of their neighboring countries. Through my three dissertation recitals, I intend to share this music with new audiences and inspire other violists to become familiar with this repertoire. The first recital includes compositions by American composers George Rochberg (1918-2015), Elliott Carter (1908-2012), and Alan Shulman (1915-2002) and Canadian composer Elizabeth Raum (b. 1945). The second recital includes works by Cuban composers Cesar Orozco (b. 1980), and Keyla Orozco (b. 1969), Venezuelan composers Aldemaro Romero (1928-2007) and Modesta Bor (1926-1998), and Venezuelan-Uruguayan composer Efrain Oscher (b. 1974). The third recital includes works by Mexican composers Carlos Chavez (1899-1978), José Pablo Moncayo (1912-1958) and Manuel M Ponce (1882-1948), and Brazilian composers Francisco Mignone (1897-1986) and Brenno Blauth (1931-1993). This music represents a bouquet of a distinctive mixture of styles from different parts of the American continent. Recordings of all three recitals can be accessed at the University of Maryland Hornabake Library.

Which Reality? Interactions at the southern border of Mexico as fieldwork of creative practice

El siguiente ensayo sintetiza y describe el proyecto de investigación creación ¿Cuál realidad? cuyo objetivo es la creación y análisis de una práctica artística como forma de entender y generar conocimiento a partir de las manifestaciones y acontecimientos sociales y culturales en diversos lugares de la frontera sur de México. Lo que se busca es reflexionar acerca de las fronteras, no sólo como lo que delimita el fin o el principio de los territorios de estados nacionales o geográficos, sino como productoras simbólicas de las diferencias entre las personas, recalcando todo aquello en lo que no son iguales por encima de lo que tienen en común. Los espacios geopolíticos que delimitan el territorio de un estado-nación son el repertorio palpable de la movilidad de personas, cosas y acontecimientos. Estas prácticas son efectuadas de manera más o menos visible y demuestran que existen y han estado ahí constantemente redes de comunicación y formas de acción común, que tienen como fin procurar bienestar y elevar la calidad de vida de los partícipes. El proyecto ¿Cuál realidad? en su materialidad y visibilidad fue planteado como una serie de intervenciones en sitio, tales como esculturas públicas, instalaciones, acciones participativas, fotografía y video, a partir de la interacción en algunas ciudades fronterizas en los estados de Chiapas, Tabasco y Quintana Roo y su colindancia con los países de Guatemala y Belice. La producción a girado entorno a las siguientes tres líneas de búsqueda temática: La línea fronteriza, el espacio físico; las personas y grupos que confluyen en estos territorios; el contrabando de cosas y el trasiego de las personas entre los países o en el interior del territorio nacional (entre ciudades del mismo estado, inmigrantes rurales etc.). Los lugares seleccionados son significativos de la frontera sur y tanto las esculturas como las intervenciones han sido construidas con objetos y/o procesos que funcionen simbólicamente para los grupos o habitantes de la zona y en colaboración con ellos: objetos útiles para el trabajo, procesos de transformación de materiales, técnicas de fabricación artesanal, ropa, donaciones, entre muchas otras construcciones.

From Traditional Assessment to the New Competency-Based Assessment

The evaluation of school students has always attempted to estimate the effort, abilities and learning of students. However, at the beginning, evaluation consisted in measuring the progress of the student’s behavior compared to a desirable behavior. Later on, different changes in evaluation benefited the processes addressed to assessing the academic achievement of students and learning itself. Today, the demands of the contemporary society are vast and numerous: students not only require knowledge, they need to develop skills, values and postures. Postmodern education requires individuals to develop different talents and competencies to grow in every way. Therefore, evaluation should respond to such needs promoting an ethical, technical, reliable assessment of the student’s competencies, thus providing more fair and objective, qualitative and quantitative judgments. This dissertation project is the result of a literature review of several authors and the daily work of teachers in the Centros de Educación Media Superior a Distancia [High School Distance Centers] of Morelos, Mexico.

Endemic Mimosa species from Mexico prefer alphaproteobacterial rhizobial symbionts.

2016

New dimeric supramolecular structure of mixed (phthalocyaninato)(porphyrinato)-europium(III) sandwiches : preparation and spectroscopic characteristics

The mixed double-decker Eu\[Pc(15C5)4](TPP) (1) was obtained by base-catalysed tetramerisation of 4,5-dicyanobenzo-15-crown-5 using the half-sandwich complex Eu(TPP)(acac) (acac = acetylacetonate), generated in situ, as the template. For comparative studies, the mixed triple-decker complexes Eu2\[Pc(15C5)4](TPP)2 (2) and Eu2\[Pc(15C5)4]2(TPP) (3) were also synthesised by the raise-by-one-story method. These mixed ring sandwich complexes were characterised by various spectroscopic methods. Up to four one-electron oxidations and two one-electron reductions were revealed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). As shown by electronic absorption and infrared spectroscopy, supramolecular dimers (SM1 and SM3) were formed from the corresponding double-decker 1 and triple-decker 3 in the presence of potassium ions in MeOH/CHCl3.

Disorderly categories in picture postcards from colonial Papua and New Guinea

At the turn of the century in Melbourne, a notice typed on the verso of a postcard stated that the South Yarra Baptist Young Men's class was meeting on the following Sunday at 2.45 p.m. The card, published in the United Kingdom, was numbered 51828 in the Valentine series of Papuan postcards.1 The image, a photograph of Hanuabada village taken in the early 1880s, and the text, written early in 1900, are contradictory and constitute separate realms of evidence that invite a renegotiation of meaning, analysis, and interpretation of the relationships between images, tourism, colonial rule, and ethnographic knowing. The visual evidence suggests the postcard may have played an ethnographic, educative role in the public understanding of Papua, which had just become an Australian Territory and was not yet well known. It is also suggestive of educative roles related to mission endeavours, subimperialist ambitions and the new tourist traffic through the ports of Port Moresby, Samarai, and Rabaul.

A new low temperature synthesis route of fraipontite (Zn,Al)3(Si,Al)2O5(OH)4

A low temperature synthesis method based on the decomposition of urea at 90°C in water has been developed to synthesise fraipontite. This material is characterised by a basal reflection 001 at 7.44 Å. The trioctahedral nature of the fraipontite is shown by the presence of a 06l band around 1.54 Å, while a minor band around 1.51 Å indicates some cation ordering between Zn and Al resulting in Al-rich areas with a more dioctahedral nature. TEM and IR indicate that no separate kaolinite phase is present. An increase in the Al content however, did result in the formation of some SiO2 in the form of quartz. Minor impurities of carbonate salts were observed during the synthesis caused by to the formation of CO32- during the decomposition of urea.