Pashukanis at Mount Polley: Law,eco-social relations and commodity forms

On August 4, 2014 the tailings pond failed at the Mount Polley copper, gold, and silver mine in British Columbia. The dam failure was amongst the largest recorded, and led to widespread debate in the province concerning weak environmental law and the effects of deregulation. This paper examines the changing role of the law in British Columbia around mining and the environment in relationship to the Mount Polley disaster. It draws on the work of the early Soviet legal theorist Evigny Pashukanis to help understand law’s role in the commodification of nature. Pashukanis suggests a legal analysis of the commodity form and a study of laws role in commodification. However, contemporary law departs from the rigid and formal property and contract principles that Pashukanis considered, and now responds to shifting social conditions, technologies and environmental concern. Yet even today, Pashukanis remains relevant, and provides a starting point for analysis of how nature is commodified. His work points to a study of the multiplicities of, and variegated legal geographies of, commodity forms.     

Activity-composition relations in feldspars

Seck's (1971a) compositional data on coexisting feldspars in the Or-Ab-An ternary at 650° C and 1 kb were used to calculate the activity-composition relations in binary alkali feldspar and binary plagioclase. The energy constants in Guggenheim's expression for excess free energy of mixing are A ₀=3920 and A ₁=657 cal/mole for alkali feldspar, in excellent agreement with values obtained by Thompson and Waldbaum (1969), and 1320 and 373 cal/ mole for plagioclase. Using Orville's (1972) data from ion-exchange experiments between plagioclase and Na—Ca chloride solutions at 700° C and 2 kb, we obtained 967 cal/mole for A ₀ and 715 cal/mole for A ₁ in the plagioclase crystalline solution.Activity-composition relations for plagioclase are interpreted in terms of a continuous, random substitution of CaAl for NaSi across the high structural state plagioclase series. This interpretation is consistent with that obtained from a consideration of lattice parameters.     

Examining the influence of intellectuals on commodity speculation

Global food price volatility began shortly after Gorton and Rouwenhorst (2004, 2006) recognized that commodity index speculation was financially underexploited by institutional investors. Pro-commodity speculation and pro-index speculation arguments were not new, but gained new significance when the US Mortgage and Global Financial crises began to unfold and investors were looking for new places to funnel money. The literature has linked financial speculation by index funds and hedge funds to global food price volatility and the food riots in 2008 and 2011. The literature, however, leaves readers with the perception that index funds and hedge funds alone created the recent wave of commodity futures speculation. This paper argues that a small but important group of intellectuals were vital to the promotion and regulation of commodity speculation by index funds and hedge funds, which has affected the world as a whole.     

Tanzanite as conflict gem: Certifying a secure commodity chain in Tanzania

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the Wall Street Journal published an article claiming that al Qaeda sympathizers were using an obscure gemstone commodity known as tanzanite to raise funds for terrorist activities. Despite subsequent disclaimers by the US State Department, this allegation effectively marked tanzanite as a “conflict gem,” and set in motion a complex set of political maneuvers designed to rehabilitate the tanzanite industry’s reputation. This paper analyzes the immediate fallout from the Wall Street Journal article and the subsequent effects of anti-terrorist rhetoric on the tanzanite industry. I explore the origins of the “conflict gem” discourse and the political movement that has taken shape over the past decade to reform gemstone mining. Drawing on theories developed by critics of the fair trade movement, I examine a series of steps taken by the main corporate miner active in the tanzanite industry to re-brand and certify tanzanite as “conflict-free.” I underscore the degree to which these efforts have been inflected by new security provisions embodied in the USA Patriot Act.     

Changes in the structure and direction of expanding commodity transport on the Danube

Self-propelling boats gain increasing importance on European waterways compared with push boats on the Mississippi and on the Volga. Danubian navigation, though growing, appears still to be rather under-developed due to the still insufficient management of the river, the economic setbacks caused by two World Wars, and the unsatisfying linkage of the Danube with other navigation systems. The construction of the Rhine-Main-Danube-Canal, of the Iron Gates dam, and other measures, however, justify rather optimistic prospects. Along with the development of container boats as well as with improving trade relations and general economic growth of the Danubian countries, navigation on the Danube will experience an exceptional growth during the years to come, providing a focus position to Hungary.     

Clay-lead sorption relations

Bays, lagoons, and estuaries are sites where normal physicochemical processes result in accumulations of sediment and certain chemicals. Changes in water velocity and chemistry, and chemical interactions of sediment, biota, and water are factors that contribute to concentrating trace metals in coastal and lake sediments. To evaluate whether lead concentration is affected by mineralogy, kaolinite, illite, montmorillonite, and a zeolitic tuff were suspended in 10 and 20 mg/l concentrations of lead solutions [Pb(NO₃)₂] which were pH-adjusted incrementally through a range of 2.5 to 11.0. Samples were centrifuged after 24 hours to separate liquid from suspended sediment. Sediment-free solutions were run as controls. Lead concentrations were determined by atomic adsorption spectrophotometry. Results indicate that montmorillonite (Wyoming Bentonite) particles serve as lead adsorption nuclei over a broad pH range. Maximum sorption occurs as the solution reaches a pH of about 7.5. The kaolinite clay from Georgia strongly adsorbs trace amounts of lead at pH ranging from 3.0 to 4.5, where up to 95 percent of the lead is adsorbed by the clay. Little adsorption difference was found between the Fithian illite clay and zeolitic tuff from the Nevada Test Site in comparison to sediment-free solutions which were pH-adjusted. In concentrations of 10 to 20 mg/l montmorillonite and kaolinite clays serve as nucleation sites capable of adsorbing up to 95 percent of trace concentrations of lead within 24 hours. It appears that accumulations of lead in coastal lake and estuarine sediments are significantly influenced by:

1. pH changes which occur as river and coastal waters mix resulting in precipitation of lead, and
2. sorption of lead by suspended clays.

     

Phase Relations in the System Pb—Sn—Fe—Sb—S

Phase relations in the system Pb-Sn-Fe-Sb-S were investigated through the diagrams of projecting plane 8x(PbS-SnS-SnS2)from the vertrex point Fe0.96Sb2.04S4.12by vacuum silica tube technique.Experimental results have shown that franckeite has a wide solid solution with substitution of Pb^2 by Sn^2 ,In franckeite s.s.the content of Sn^2 varies from 0 to 4.8 atoms (total metal atoms are 11 atoms per formula) at 500℃ and 0-4.0 atoms at 400℃,respectively,Meanwhile,the content of Sn^4 ranges from 1.3to 2.0 atoms at 500℃ and 1.5-2.1 atoms at 400℃ in franckeite s.s.These results are consistent well with analytic data on natural franckeite.The cylindrite solid solutiopn has a relatively small range with Sn^2 -1.8atoms and Sm^4 =3.2-4.2 atoms per formula at 500℃ and ,Sn^2 =0.5-1.7 atoms and Sm^4 =3.3-4.2 atoms at 400℃ which are comparable with natural cylindrite.The phases coexisting in equilibrium with franckeite s.s. are galena,boulangerite,robinsonite.teallite,SnS,cylindrite.s.s.and synthetic phase Ⅲ ss or I ss.The cylindrite s.s.coexists with SnS2 and the above mentioned phases,but not with galena.teallite and SnS,and probably not with boulangerite in this projecting plane.     

Phase relations in the tremolite-pargasite join

The join tremolite (Tr)-pargasite (Pa) has been studied in the temperature range 750 °–1,150 ° C under a water vapor pressure of 1 and 5 kbar. There is a continuous solid solution series between the compositions Tr₈₅Pa₁₅ and Tr_oPa₁₀₀ at 850 ° C and 5 kbar. Tremolite and pargasite are separated by a solvus at 1 kbar and the field of tremolitic amphibole +pargasitic amphibole+vapor is present in the region between Tr₉₀Pa₁₀ and Tr₁₀Pa₉₀ at 800 ° C. The phase assemblages at 850 ° C and 1 kbar change as follows with increasing pargasite component; clinopyroxene +orthopyroxene+quartz+vapor, tremolitic amphibole+vapor, tremolitic amphibole+clinopyroxene +forsterite+plagioclase+vapor, tremolitic amphibole+pargasitic amphibole+vapor, and pargasitic amphibole+vapor. The petrological significance of amphibole pairs in metamorphic rocks is discussed on the basis of the experimental results.     

Feldspar relations in a composite magma

The coming together of basic and acid magma in a volcanic plug is believed to have produced above-liquidus temperatures and effected temporary fusion of oligoclase phenocrysts in the acid component. Electron-probe analyses of the minerals show a high degree of feldspar ternary solid solution which is related to composition of the magma and possibly to the effect of superheating.     

关于中国矿产种类划分方案的讨论

文章是为"中国矿产地质志"项目进行"全覆盖"的矿产成矿规律研究而撰写的,旨在了解中国矿产的种类及其数量。在对前人有关古代矿业的众多资料和1949年至今的5个矿产分类方案进行汇总和比较的基础上,结合当前国际上的矿产分类,根据《地球科学大辞典》中有关"矿产""金属矿产""非金属矿产"等诸多术语之定义,对诸方案的能源矿产、金属矿产、非金属矿产和宝玉石矿产分类分别进行述评后,提出了中国矿产资源的系统分类,包括:1能源矿产13种;2金属矿产39种/族(其中,黑色金属5种、有色金属13种、贵金属3种/族、稀有金属8种、稀土金属15种+钇和钪、分散元素9种);3非金属矿产114种/组,其中,矿物类非金属矿产65种/组、岩石(土)类矿产49种/组;4水气矿产6种,合计172种(组)矿产,并给出它们的矿物分子式。此外,还重复列出宝玉石类和观赏石类(装饰石、收藏石及具中国文化特色的砚石、印章石)矿产53种;其中,宝石类矿产14种/类、玉石类矿产22种和观赏石类矿产17种;另增加有机类的琥珀1种。     

Causality and dispersion relations in electrical prospecting

The problem of causality in low-frequency electrical prospecting with artificial and natural sources is considered. We present numerical examples of the application of dispersion relations to transfer function spectra used in the induced polarization and controlled-source electromagnetic methods and to the components of telluric, horizontal magnetic, and other magnetotelluric tensors. Approaches to the processing and interpretation of spectra with violated dispersion relations are proposed.     

Arab-Jewish socio-spatial relations in Arab adolescents' representations

It seems that beyond differences among the drawings several generalisations may be made, relating to the ethno-spatial relations in Israeli Palestinian adolescents' perceptions, two years after the emergence of the uprising.

Phase relations in three charnockites from Pallavaram-Tambaram

Chemical data on eight ferromagnesian silicates from a syenitic and two tonalitic charnockites from the type area near Madras show remarkably regular cation fractionation patterns. The distribution coefficients for magnesium-iron point to equilibration under granulite facies metamorphism. Orthopyroxene-garnet-biotite subsystem has been found to be of a near invariant nature, while the compositions of orthopyroxene and biotite in the nongarnetiferous tonalite are different. Analysis of phase equilibrium by Thompson type AFM projection strongly indicates that pressure, temperature and the chemical potential of water were constant for assemblages separated by large distances.     

The urban geography of underdevelopment: a case of petty commodity production

The study in urban geography of underdevelopment has serious inadequacies although there are numerous studies on unemployment, housing, transportation and poverty problems of the city in underdeveloped societies. Urban petty commodity production (a group of activities normally seen as lying outside the principal spheres of large-scale production in underdeveloped economies), for example, has been the focus of development economics and geography in the last two decades but the specific problem of appropriation of urban landscape by this group of activities, which in turn reproduce and transform the landscape has, at the very best, been only partially and indirectly addressed. This paper deals with this problem with particular reference to material derived from fieldwork in the Turkish city of Bursa.     

The production relations of contract farming in Honduras

Contract farmers in central Honduras have been producers of Asian vegetables for American markets since 1989. Contract farming holds the potential to provide benefits to small farmers who would otherwise be unable to access export markets but production relations between firms and farmers are often asymmetric and can be exploitative. Poor communication and legacies of mistrust between commodity agriculture and small farmers lead to ambiguities in the contracting system that are misinterpreted by both firms and farmers, creating social tensions between contracting parties. This article will consider how farmers’ navigation of the contracting system and competition between export firms has led to changes in the system. Through competition for a limited pool of outgrowers, firms adjust their policies in favor of farmers without explicit attempts of labor organization on the part of the farmers.

The social relations of catfish production in Vietnam

The growth of intensive export-oriented Pangasius catfish production in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is unparalleled in terms of rapidity and scale by any other agricultural sector, with production climbing from a low base to more than 1 million tons in a single decade. This paper examines the effects of this remarkable change on the rural class structure in locations where catfish farming has boomed, and analyses the role of local state-society relations in mediating outcomes resulting from the integration of local actors into the global value chain. We conclude that private economic activity is deeply embedded in informal relations with the state bureaucracy in Vietnam, with the result that the expansion of catfish aquaculture has generally acted to reproduce and entrench existing class relations rather leading to a radical reconfiguration of the rural class structure.