Nosotros, los bioéticos. Estrategias de producción identitarias de grupos católicos reunidos en torno a la bioética

Para 1994, las preocupaciones sobre los avances científicos en términos de biomedicina como la reproducción asistida, la anticoncepción y el aborto llevaron al Papa Juan Pablo II a instituir formalmente a la Pontificia Academia para la Vida con el objetivo de defender y promover la vida mediante el estudio y monitoreo de los avances médicos y el derecho. Desde esta institución se promovió la bioética, personalista, como la disciplina propicia para establecer concepciones filosóficas y antropológicas sobre los conceptos de inicio y finalización de la vida y del ser humano en general. En nuestro país, recién para 1998, algunos movimientos católicos empezaron a dar sus primeros pasos en la formación de laicos en estas cuestiones, apoyando la idea de que son ellos, especialmente los profesionales de la salud, quienes deben difundir los postulados doctrinarios en el territorio, allí donde se encuentran los bautizados. La defensa de la vida como valor máximo, universal, trascendental y a la vez secular es el objetivo máximo de los promulgadores de la bioética ya que aúna criterios con otras religiones en el movimiento de la defensa de la vida y la planificación natural de la fertilidad, que estos grupos católicos pretenden dominar. Este trabajo intentará dar cuenta de las estrategias de producción identitarias por parte de los líderes católicos bioéticos, de un grupo católico secular, destinadas al conjunto de los laicos, durante el año 2008, en el cual el movimiento bioético, luego de diez años de vida, se encuentra afianzado y logra la movilización de centenares de laicos militantes de la defensa de la vida, a lo largo de la Argentina

"Convivir con el agua" : Las políticas de gestión del recurso hídrico ayer y hoy

Expongo algunos resultados preliminares de mis indagaciones sobre un primer período que abarca desde la década de 1870, en que se van gestando algunas políticas aisladas para el sector rural hasta la de 1940 en que el problema hídrico en el campo se combinó con el surgimiento del conurbano que rodea a la actual Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Pero como espero continuar estos trabajos hasta el presente y la realidad se impone en las situaciones de desastre que hemos sufrido en mi provincia en los últimos años, y continuamos sufriendo con la inundación de los últimos meses, presento trabajos de otras disciplinas que me permiten pensar en ciertas tendencias seculares en la gestión del recurso hídrico.

El tratado demonológico como espacio del conflicto político entre la autoridad religiosa y los emergentes Estados territoriales : El Malleus Maleficarum y la subordinación de la autoridad seglar a la eclesiástica

Tomando en consideración las motivaciones particulares de los autores del Malleus Maleficarum y los condicionantes culturales de su redacción, este trabajo pondrá el foco en las reflexiones allí vertidas acerca del rol de la autoridad secular, y su relación de cara a los inquisidores como representantes eclesiásticos, en la extirpación de la nueva secta de las brujas. Finalmente establecerá la relación existente entre la producción del texto y la emergencia del Estado territorial moderno. Podemos adelantar que un período en el que comienzan a emerger las nuevas estructuras estatales, nuestros teólogos exaltaron, por sobre cualquier otra fuente de poder fáctico, la potestad del vicario de Cristo, haciendo del discurso demonológico un espacio de debate político entre dos fuentes de autoridad en pugna (a pesar de sustentarse en el mismo fundamento -Dios-)

El camino no tan sencillo a la santidad : Aproximaciones narratológicas a la Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos de Gonzalo de Berceo

Desde que críticos como Aldo Ruffinato o Baños Vallejo comenzaron a estudiar la hagiografía española medieval basándose en la teoría narratológica de Bremond, este género se concibió como el ejemplo más acabado de narración lineal y ascendente. En este trabajo pretendo mostrar una aproximación narratológica diferente a las intentadas hasta ahora, usando como fuente la Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos de Gonzalo de Berceo. Para eso, me centraré en aquellos aspectos que contradigan o escapen a esa supuesta linealidad y muestren la textura conflictiva y dialéctica del relato. Esto permitirá apreciar que el texto,lejos de presentar un ascenso armonioso, es un arduo recorrido muchas veces circular y repetitivo, a través de intentos de dar una resolución simbólica a conflictos reales como la relación entre la vida contemplativa y la vida sacerdotal, el poder eclesiástico y el poder secular o la libertad humana y la omnipotencia divina.

Ruralia, tradicionalismo y población en la Puna de Jujuy durante el siglo XX

El crecimiento de la población puneña durante el siglo XX resulta de la evolución de tres circunstancias centrales. La primera consiste en que la sociedad puneña, especialmente la rural, ha sido, y en buena medida lo es, una sociedad tradicional, es decir, no moderna, preindustrial, con estructura social poco diferenciada, con pautas culturales diferenciales. La otra se relaciona con el proceso de articulación entre esa sociedad tradicional y la moderna, capitalista, extra-puneña. La conjetura es que la consolidación del capitalismo en el Noroeste argentino a partir del último tercio del siglo XIX no desplazó ni reemplazó a la sociedad tradicional: convivió con ella durante décadas generando cambios sustanciales en numerosos aspectos. La tercera tiene que ver con la acción del Estado: al menos durante las primeras décadas del XX operó en el contexto del positivismo, asociado con el concepto de desarrollo no lejano al de progreso. A través del progreso, la sociedad tradicional se transforma en una sociedad racional, secular, con estructuras sociales diferenciadas.

Entre la represión y la tolerancia : El derrotero de los judíos en tiempos de Gregorio Magno e Isidoro de Sevilla

El artículo se centra en las políticas proseguidas frente a los judíos tanto en la Península Itálica como en el orbe hispano. El análisis de las posiciones esgrimidas por Gregorio Magno e Isidoro de Sevilla, junto al examen de la situación efectiva, observable a partir de diversos recursos heurísticos, habilita el esbozo de un panorama en el cual la represión y la tolerancia coexisten. La comparación entre los dos espacios permite, asimismo, comprender las diferentes actitudes adoptadas por los sectores de poder, laicos y religiosos, en relación a las comunidades judías locales, así como también los impactos de tales lineamientos en el período posterior

Geochemistry and Mg-isotopes of carbonate sediments and porefluids of ODP Site 130-807

Deep-sea pore fluids are potential archives of ancient seawater chemistry. However, the primary signal recorded in pore fluids is often overprinted by diagenetic processes. Recent studies have suggested that depth profiles of Mg concentration in deep-sea carbonate pore fluids are best explained by a rapid rise in seawater Mg over the last 10-20 Myr. To explore this possibility we measured the Mg isotopic composition of pore fluids and carbonate sediments from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) site 807. Whereas the concentration of Mg in the pore fluid declines with depth, the isotopic composition of Mg in the pore fluid increases from -0.78 per mil near the sediment-water interface to -0.15 per mil at 778 mbsf. The Mg isotopic composition of the sediment, with few important exceptions, does not change with depth and has an average d26Mg value of -4.72 per mil. We reproduce the observed changes in sediment and pore-fluid Mg isotope values using a numerical model that incorporates Mg, Ca and Sr cycling and satisfies existing pore-fluid Ca isotope and Sr data. Our model shows that the observed trends in magnesium concentrations and isotopes are best explained as a combination of two processes: a secular rise in the seawater Mg over the Neogene and the recrystallization of low-Mg biogenic carbonate to a higher-Mg diagenetic calcite. These results indicate that burial recrystallization will add Mg to pelagic carbonate sediments, leading to an overestimation of paleo-temperatures from measured Mg/Ca ratios. The Mg isotopic composition of foraminiferal calcite appears to be only slightly altered by recrystallization making it possible to reconstruct the Mg isotopic composition of seawater through time.

Coordenadas marianas : Tiempos y espacios de devoción a la Virgen a través de las cofradías porteñas coloniales

En el presente trabajo intentamos aproximarnos al estudio de la devoción a la Virgen en la ciudad de Buenos Aires durante la colonia a través de la identificación de las conmemoraciones del calendario y de los lugares de culto. Para ello se rastrearon las asociaciones de laicos con fines religiosos, cofradías y hermandades. Las fuentes utilizadas son libros de constituciones y actas de diferentes cofradías, un almanaque del siglo XVIII y documentación emitida por la corona española sobre la organización de las festividades religiosas y las reuniones de las cofradías. También se ha usado bibliografía editada para rastrear información sobre asociaciones y espacios de culto. Este trabajo se propone construir una base empírica para poder analizar la construcción de escenarios religiosos que desbordan los límites de la devoción privada constituyendo un espacio público, hacia finales del período colonial.

Paleomegnetic of basaltic sequenzes from DSDP Site 462 in the Nauru Basin

The voluminous volcanic eruptions in the Nauru Basin, Western Pacific, have long been regarded as important research targets for tectonic history of the Pacific Plate and for the widespread Cretaceous volcanic activity in the Western Pacific. The Nauru Basin volcanic rocks were recovered at Site 462 by Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Legs 61 and 89, where more than 600 m of lavas and sills were drilled, thereby making it the deepest penetration into crust of Cretaceous age in the Pacific Ocean. For paleomagnetism, this section represents a unique possibility for averaging out secular variation to obtain a reliable paleolatitude estimate. However, previous paleomagnetic studies have only been subjected to alternating field (AF) demagnetization on several core samples, thus, unable to provide comprehensive understanding on the paleolatitude of the basin. The work reported here aims to determine the Cretaceous paleomagnetic paleolatitude for the Pacific Plate and define the magnetostratigraphy for the basaltic sections drilled in the Nauru Basin. A total of 391 basaltic rock samples were carefully re-sampled from DSDP Sites 462 and 462A. Stepwise thermal and AF demagnetizations have isolated characteristic components in the majority of the samples. The most important findings from this study include: (1) Two normal and one reversed polarity intervals are identified in Site 462, and six normal and six reversed polarity intervals are found in Site 462A, although possible erroneous markings of the opposite azimuth for some reversed polarity cores during the DSDP coring cannot be completely ruled out. (2) Based on previous radiometric ages, the magnetostratigraphic correlations with the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS) indicate that the lower-basaltic flow unit in Site 462A began to erupt at least before 130 Ma. No correlation is available for the upper-sill unit. (3) Paleosecular variation for the lower-flow unit has been sufficiently averaged out; whereas bias may exist for that of the upper-sill unit; (4) The calculated mean inclination of ~50° for the lower-flow unit yields a paleolatitude of 30.8°S for the Nauru Basin at the time of emplacement. This value is well to the north of suggested location in plate reconstruction models, suggesting that there has been a significant amount of apparent polar wander of the Nauru Basin and Pacific plate since 130 Ma. In addition, the paleolatitude for the Nauru Basin is ~7° further south and the basin's age is more than 10 my older than those of the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP), which suggest that the volcanic eruptions of the lower flows in the Nauru Basin are unlikely related to the emplacement of the Ontong Java Plateau.

Stable isotope record of the Okhotsk Sea

Stable isotope data on benthic foraminifera from more than 30 cores on the northern Emperor Seamounts and in the Okhotsk Sea are synthesized in paleohydrographic profiles spanning the depth range 1000-4000 m. Holocene (core-top) benthic foraminiferal d18O and d13C data are calibrated to modern hydrographic properties through measurements of d13C of SumCO2 and d18O of seawater. Cibicidoides stable isotope ratios are close to the d13C and equilibrium d18O of seawater, whereas Uvigerina d18O and d13C are variably offset from Cibicidoides. Glacial maximum d13C of Cibicidoides displays a different vertical profile than that of the Holocene. When results are adjusted by +0.32 per mil to account for the secular change in d13C during the last glacial maximum, the data coincide with the modern seawater and foraminiferal curves deeper than ~2 km. However, at shallower depths d13C gradually increases by as much as 1 per mil above the modern value. Furthermore, above 2 km the benthic d18O decreases by ~0.5 per mil. These results are consistent with a benthic front at ~2 km in the North Pacific (see Herguera et al., 1992), but they differ from interpretations based on trace metal data which indicate a source of nutrient-depleted deep water during glaciation. The isotopic data suggest that during glaciation there was a better ventilated watermass at intermediate depths in the far northwestern Pacific, it was relatively fresher than deep waters there, and deep waters were as nutrient-rich as today.

Age determination and paleomagnetic investigations on a sediment profile from laguna Potrok Aike

Paleomagnetic inclination, declination and relative paleointensity were reconstructed from the sediments of Laguna Potrok Aike in the framework of the International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Potrok Aike maar lake Sediment Archive Drilling prOject (PASADO). Here we present the u-channel-based full vector paleomagnetic field reconstruction since 51.2 ka cal BP. The relative paleointensity proxy (RPI) was built by normalising the natural remanent magnetisation with the anhysteretic remanent magnetisation using the average ratio at 4 demagnetisation steps part of the ChRM interval (NRM/ARM10e40 mT). A grain size influence on the RPI was removed using a correction based on the linear relationship between the RPI and the median destructive field of the natural remanent magnetisation (MDFNRM). The new record is compared with other lacustrine and marine records and stacks from the mid- to high-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, revealing consistent millennial-scale variability, the identification of the Laschamp and possibly the Mono Lake geomagnetic excursions, and a direction swing possibly associated to the Hilina Pali excursion at 20 ka cal BP. Nonetheless, a global-scale comparison with other high-resolution records located on the opposite side of the Earth and with various dipole field references hint at a different behaviour of the geomagnetic field around southern South America at 46 ka cal BP.

Paleomagnetic and radiocarbon-based chronologies of sediment cores MD99-2269 and MD99-2322

We report the intercalibration of paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) and radiocarbon dates of two expanded postglacial sediment cores from geographically proximal, but oceanographically and sedimentologically contrasting settings. The objective is to improve relative correlation and chronology over what can be achieved with either method alone. Core MD99-2269 was taken from the Húnaflóaáll Trough on the north Iceland shelf. Core MD99-2322 was collected from the Kangerlussuaq Trough on the east Greenland margin. Both cores are well dated, with 27 and 20 accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dates for cores 2269 and 2322, respectively. Paleomagnetic measurements made on u channel samples document a strong, stable, single-component magnetization. The temporal similarities of paleomagnetic inclination and declination records are shown using each core's independent calibrated radiocarbon age model. Comparison of the PSV records reveals that the relative correlation between the two cores could be further improved. Starting in the depth domain, tie points initially based on calibrated 14C dates are either adjusted or added to maximize PSV correlations. Radiocarbon dates from both cores are then combined on a common depth scale resulting from the PSV correlation. Support for the correlation comes from the consistent interweaving of dates, correct alignment of the Saksunarvatn tephra, and the improved correlation of paleoceanographic proxy data (percent carbonate). These results demonstrate that PSV correlation used in conjunction with 14C dates can improve relative correlation and also regional chronologies by allowing dates from various stratigraphic sequences to be combined into a single, higher dating density, age-to-depth model.

Carbon chemistry of oceanic crust

Carbonate mineral precipitation in the upper oceanic crust during low-temperature, off-axis, hydrothermal circulation is investigated using new estimates of the bulk CO2 content of seven DSDP/ODP drill cores. In combination with previously published data these new data show: (i) the CO2 content of the upper ~ 300 m of the crust is substantially higher in Cretaceous than in Cenozoic crust and (ii) for any age of crust, there is substantially more CO2 in Atlantic (slow-spreading) than Pacific (intermediate- to fast-spreading) crust. Modelling the Sr-isotopic composition of the carbonates suggests that > 80% of carbonate mineral formation occurs within < 20 Myr of crust formation. This means that the higher CO2 content of Cretaceous crust reflects a secular change in the rate of CO2 uptake by the crust. Oxygen isotope derived estimates of carbonate mineral precipitation temperatures show that the average and minimum temperature of carbonate precipitation was ~10 °C higher temperatures in the Cretaceous than in the Cenozoic. This difference is consistent with previous estimates of secular change in bottom seawater temperature. Higher fluid temperature within the crust will have increased reaction rates potentially liberating more basaltic Ca and hence enhancing carbonate mineral precipitation. Additionally, if crustal fluid pH is controlled by fluid-rock reaction, the higher Ca content of the Cretaceous ocean will also have enhanced carbonate mineral precipitation. New estimates of the rate of CO2 uptake by the upper ocean crust during the Cenozoic are much lower than previous estimates.

Holocene sedimentation rates in the Northwest Passage

Palynological, geochemical, and physical records were used to document Holocene paleoceanographic changes in marine sediment core from Dease Strait in the western part of the main axis of the Northwest Passage (core 2005-804-006 PC latitude 68°59.552'N, longitude 106°34.413'W). Quantitative estimates of past sea surface conditions were inferred from the modern analog technique applied to dinoflagellate cyst assemblages. The chronology of core 2005-804-006 PC is based on a combined use of the paleomagnetic secular variation records and the CALS7K.2 time-varying spherical harmonic model of the geomagnetic field. The age-depth model indicates that the core spans the last ~7700 cal years B.P., with a sedimentation rate of 61 cm/ka. The reconstructed sea surface parameters were compared with those from Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound (cores 2005-804-004 PC and 2004-804-009 PC, respectively), which allowed us to draw a millennial-scale Holocene sea ice history along the main axis of the Northwest Passage (MANWP). Overall, our data are in good agreement with previous studies based on bowhead whale remains. However, dinoflagellate sea surface based reconstructions suggest several new features. The presence of dinoflagellate cysts in the three cores for most of the Holocene indicates that the MANWP was partially ice-free over the last 10,000 years. This suggests that the recent warming observed in the MANWP could be part of the natural climate variability at the millennial time scale, whereas anthropogenic forcing could have accelerated the warming over the past decades. We associate Holocene climate variability in the MANWP with a large-scale atmospheric pattern, such as the Arctic Oscillation, which may have operated since the early Holocene. In addition to a large-scale pattern, more local conditions such as coastal current, tidal effects, or ice cap proximity may have played a role on the regional sea ice cover. These findings highlight the need to further develop regional investigations in the Arctic to provide realistic boundary conditions for climatic simulations.