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This article studies the Indians who provided firewood, charcoal and wood to the cities and mines of New Spain. It tries to show that this trade, despite its unassuming appearance, was very relevant in productive terms, and its shortage could have serious consequences in daily life and the smooth running of various productive activities. The text describes the characteristics and conditions of the production and argues that the transit of men and merchandises had an impact both in the cities and the towns of origin. It also proposes that this trade cannot be understood simply in economic terms, since it reflected the parallel dualities of country/ city and Indian/Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the work of New Spain's royal treasuries assayers. It considers the period in which this responsibility was carried out under the regime of sale of public offices. These officers were in charge of certifying the fineness of silver and gold so that they could be used in commerce or minted, and taxes could be collected on them. These appointments were both a livelihood for many people and a key position in the complex relationship between the king and local elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The violation of human rights abnegates the exercise of a person or group's freedoms and opportunities. These violations can be perpetrated by any actor in society, as well as by the government itself. In Mexico, mainly in the northern states, discrimination is noticeably apparent, whether originated by social status or sexual preferences, generating a grievous violation of the right to equality. This article presents a brief overview of the evolution of human rights in the world, their definitions and characteristics, as well as their application and importance in Mexican legislation. In parallel, it analyzes the citizens of Monterrey's perception of human rights, using the case study completed by the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León as a reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yemen is a country that has a rich history and ancestral culture, being one of the most interesting case studies in the Middle East region. Despite this, not much is known about it and unfortunately today it's the poorest nation in the Arabian peninsula. Towards the decade of the 2000, the country already faced an economic and political crisis, that was reinforced by the revolts in 2011 that led to the exit of the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the failed attempt of the conference for the "National Dialogue". Far from finding a solution, the divisions within the country became more visible. Today Yemen has descended into a cruel war since the Houthi uprising in 2014 and the military intervention of the Saudi-led coalition, which far from being a "proxy war" between Tehran and Riyadh, involves different alliances and actors, which has destabilized the country completely and deepened the humanitarian situation, creating a scenario worse than that of Syria and Iraq, ignored by the world. The present text represents the challenge of including the study of Yemen in the academic community, one of the countries least understood and least studied within the great problems that the Middle East faces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the cloud properties associated with cold fronts that affected central Chile during May–September 1998–2014 using observational and reanalysis data. Warmer, moister, and more unstable conditions in early winter favor the development of deeper mixed‐phased clouds in cold fronts, having larger rain and ice water contents. Late in the season, cooler, drier, and more stable conditions predominate, favoring the development of a larger percentage of shallower warm‐phased clouds. Years when cold fronts show large environmental humidity and high cloud tops were associated with stronger systems that produced the largest precipitation. The linear positive relationship between cloud tops and precipitable water reported in the Central and Eastern Pacific was also found in storms developing in the Eastern South Pacific. The intensity of cold fronts also determines their cloud development and observed rainfall. High freezing level (FL) cold fronts are more frequent in May and June, generally occur in very high humidity environments, are stronger, include more rain and ice water contents, and allow the development of the highest clouds compared to low FL storms, which are more frequent in August. The strength of low FL storms, instead of their available humidity seems to be the key factor controlling the rain they produce. On the other hand, the intensity of high FL storms seems not to be a decisive factor in controlling its rainfall. Finally, the presence of an atmospheric river seems not to guarantee the rainiest events among high and low FL cold fronts. Key Points: Cold fronts find the wettest, least stable environment in May, causing the highest clouds and large rainfall. Conditions worsen afterwardsHigh freezing level (FL) cold fronts develop in high humidity environments, are stronger, and produce more rainfall than low FL cold frontsThe strength of low FL cold fronts seems to be a key factor modulating the transition from weak‐storm‐low‐rain to strong‐storm‐large‐rain [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes several cases of domestic violence among the Purépechas, Tarascan Indians of Michoacán, noting that the victims were, as usual, the wives, but also their fathers, which is a more uncommon feature. The author examines the forms, situations, spaces, and justifications of domestic violence and reviews the authorities response to these incidents. The article stresses the importance of the changes in the concept of family authority, as well as the unusual independence of women among Purépechas and the consequences of male migration in the late colonial years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ballast is essential for vessels to lower their centre of gravity, improve stability, and ease their motion during sailing. During the modern period, heavy materials used for ballasting ships were an issue of particular concern for both authorities and ship owners, subjected to increasing control, regulation, and standardisation. These items represent a very common find in wreck sites and deserve special attention, as their characteristics, distribution, and provenance can deliver critical information for assessing where the vessel was ballasted, sailing routes, ship tonnage, and site formation processes. This article is centred on pig iron ingots, introduced in the early 18th century in sailing warships and shortly thereafter in sizeable merchant vessels, a type of ballast which is frequently overlooked in archaeological research. In particular, specimens retrieved from the Chilean Navy armed transport Infatigable (1855) were analysed through macroscopic and physicochemical characterisation using LM, SEM-EDS, WD-XRF, and IGF. The results obtained indicate the ingots were manufactured with cast iron of different quality, suggesting they may have come from different production centres. The investigation resulted in a better understanding of ballasting practices on a South American navy ship in the early post-independence period and provided new data for discussions of off-site and non-nautical technological issues, such as the materials, knowledge, and techniques associated with the production of pig iron in the mid-19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological markers are organic compounds in geological samples with an unambiguous link to specific precursor molecules in living organisms. They provide information on the origin and depositional environment of fossil organic matter as well as about its thermal maturation caused by geothermal heat flow during burial. Petroleum and its refinery products carry this biomarker information into the environment when they are released during anthropogenically-induced pollution. Soils or aquatic surface sediments in contaminated areas usually contain binary mixtures of fossil hydrocarbons and recent biogenic hydrocarbons like higher-plant wax esters, together with (often olefinic) hydrocarbons from earliest diagenetic transformation of functionalized biomolecules. Surface sediments collected in the shelf area of the Campeche Sound, Gulf of Mexico, sampled in the course of environmental monitoring for possible petroleum pollution due to industrial activity, however, revealed a third group of hydrocarbons. GC-MS analysis of biomarkers in the nonaromatic hydrocarbon fractions of the sediment extracts yielded overlapping hydrocarbon assemblages indicating multiple sources. Samples taken close to known asphalt seeps exhibit biomarker patterns virtually identical to those of reference crude oils. Other sediments contain mature fossil hydrocarbons and biomarkers that are not typical of either fossil fuels or immature organic matter in marine surface sediments. Instead, they come from drill cuttings recovered during penetration of Tertiary to Cretaceous deposits that were littered on the shallow sea bottom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: An evaluation of Pacific and Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and Colombian streamflow was performed to identify coupled regions of SST and Colombian streamflow variability. Applying the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) statistical method, SSTs (and Colombian streamflow for 10 stations) were evaluated for (a) the Pacific Ocean, (b) the Atlantic Ocean, and (c) the combined Pacific and Atlantic Ocean for a 41year period of record (1960–2000). A lead-time approach was adopted such that spring–summer seasonal (April through September) SSTs were evaluated with streamflow for the following calendar-year (January through December). The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been acknowledged in previous research efforts as an influence of Colombian streamflow. The ENSO signal identified that warmer (cooler) equatorial SSTs resulted in lesser (greater) streamflow. In general, the use of predefined published indices, such as ENSO, is appealing for water managers and forecasters. However, the utilization of SSTs for entire regions (Pacific and Atlantic Oceans) eliminates any spatial bias as to which oceanic SST region (or regions) impact hydrology. This will assist in the identification of regions that may not be represented in existing indices and could lead to improved forecasting. The SVD 1st temporal expansion series of Pacific (and the combined Pacific and Atlantic) Ocean SSTs and streamflow for several stations resulted in correlation values greater than that of well known climate indices (e.g., ENSO), which could result in improved streamflow predictability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Central Western Patagonia (CWP) is a key area for assessing long-distance procurement of high-quality obsidians throughout the Holocene given that almost all relevant types represented in the archaeological record are exotic to this region. By using surface and stratigraphic obsidian artifacts from archaeological sites compared to standards from known sources in Patagonia, this paper discusses the spatial and temporal distribution of this lithic material. Sampling was oriented to assemblages from deposits with radiocarbon-based time frames (10,700 − 300 cal BP). This paper presents geochemical (ICP-MS) analyses of 178 samples from 58 archaeological sites at 11 surveyed areas located along the Pacific coast, the Andean forest, and eastern steppe. Out of six potential sources, the Chaitén Volcano source (Los Lagos Region, Chile) dominates exclusively the occurrence of obsidians along the coastal fringe, while the Pampa del Asador source (PDA, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina) largely dominates (86% of samples) obsidian in the eastern steppe and the forest/steppe ecotone. This broad distribution is explained by the presence of the densely forested Andean mountain range acting as a biogeographical barrier. East of the Andes, we recorded an absolute dominance of PDA south of 45°30′S, while more variability prevailed north of this point. The highest diversity of obsidians was recorded in the Cisnes River valley, probably because it is located closer to other alternative northern sources (Telsen/Sierra Negra, Sacanana and Angostura Blanca, all in Chubut Province, Argentina) and because it also hosts a local low-quality obsidian type. Based on this distribution, we discuss obsidian procurement behaviors by considering obsidian frequency and tool/debitage-class representation with increasing distance. We use the analysis of fall-off curves based on the distance of studied locations from the sources and include the use of least-cost paths for providing the most likely procurement routes. No obsidian diversification was recorded during the Holocene, hence the main driver for its procurement seems to be the distance from the source rather than the antiquity of its knowledge. Alternative procurement behaviors are discussed, specifically direct acquisition, exchange, and/or sporadic visits as mechanisms for explaining the archaeological patterns throughout the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition to oral processes is, without doubt, a Herculean task whose achievement, in fact, is a joint responsibility of the legislature, jurisprudence, doctrine and the national academia, who must work together in order to develop, with solvency, a real oral process. It is a challenge that demands the involvement of all legal actors who are called, in part, to rethink the system, and based on their conclusions, to put it into practice. That's why this paper addresses just one of the main topics to be considered regarding orality: the evidence rules under the oral system. Thus, it seeks to elucidate a structural question or problem: What specific reforms are needed for the rules of evidence in order to achieve the oral process? Identifying the problems that current rules of evidence have and proposing some solutions to that problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]