Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 347-364). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR51701

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-03-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:34:05Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 coelho_pmb_me_fran.pdf: 1879546 bytes, checksum: 0cf7ecff5ac50af59b7b52bad8eb375f (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente estudo está concentrado em analisar as causas fundamentais da manutenção da independência política da província de Tlaxcala frente ao domínio mexica no território mesoamericano a partir da construção da narrativa dos cronistas mestiços do século XVI Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc e Diego Muñoz Camargo. Dessa forma, através da análise de suas obras, procuraremos avaliar a construção da narrativa desses autores em relação ao conflito entre os tlaxcaltecas e mexicas, especialmente no século XV e início do XVI, e a contínua manutenção da autonomia dos primeiros até a chegada de Cortés na América / This work is based on the analyses of the main causes of the political independence maintenance of the Tlaxcala Province face the Mexica´s dominion on the Mesoamerican territory through the narratives of two mestizo writers of the XVI century, Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc and Diego Muñoz Camargo. By analyzing their work, we try to evaluate the narrative construction related to the conflict between the tlaxcaltecas and the mexicas, specially during the XV and beginning of the XVI century, and the continuous maintenance of autonomy of the former until Cortés arrival to America

Orientador: Ana Raquel Marques da Cunha Martins Portugal. / Banca: Fernando Torres-Londoño / Banca: Lélio Luiz de Oliveira / Resumo: O presente estudo está concentrado em analisar as causas fundamentais da manutenção da independência política da província de Tlaxcala frente ao domínio mexica no território mesoamericano a partir da construção da narrativa dos cronistas mestiços do século XVI Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc e Diego Muñoz Camargo. Dessa forma, através da análise de suas obras, procuraremos avaliar a construção da narrativa desses autores em relação ao conflito entre os tlaxcaltecas e mexicas, especialmente no século XV e início do XVI, e a contínua manutenção da autonomia dos primeiros até a chegada de Cortés na América / Abstract: This work is based on the analyses of the main causes of the political independence maintenance of the Tlaxcala Province face the Mexica's dominion on the Mesoamerican territory through the narratives of two mestizo writers of the XVI century, Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc and Diego Muñoz Camargo. By analyzing their work, we try to evaluate the narrative construction related to the conflict between the tlaxcaltecas and the mexicas, specially during the XV and beginning of the XVI century, and the continuous maintenance of autonomy of the former until Cortés arrival to America / Mestre

O objetivo dessa pesquisa é analisar e compreender quais os papéis dos agentes não humanos em narrativas genealógicas, históricas e cosmológicas mixtecas produzidas no final do período pré-hispânico e colonial inicial, sobretudo daquelas figuras consideradas como deidades pelos estudiosos desses manuscritos. Para alcançar esse objetivo foram analisadas, as supostas deidades e suas ações em quatro códices mixtecos: Bodley, Selden, Vindobonense e Zouche Nuttall, manuscritos pictoglíficos produzidos a mando de elites indígenas mixtecas. Os agentes envolvidos nessas histórias podem ser base para a compreensão do que seriam as concepções de história e poder político para essas elites mixtecas, pois a produção das narrativas contidas nos códices mesoamericanos estava intimamente ligada à influência e à justificativa de domínio político das elites indígenas. / This research aims to analyze and to comprehend the role of no human agents in the mixtec genealogical, historical, and cosmological narratives produced in the late pre-hispanic and early colonial period, more precisely those characters considered as deities by the specialists in the study of these manuscripts. To achieve this objective, the supposed deities and their actions will be analyzed in four mixtec codices: Bodley, Selden, Vindobonense and Zouche Nuttall, pictoglyphic manuscripts produced at behest of mixtec indigenous elites. The agents involved in these histories could be the basis to comprehend what would be the conceptions of history and political power to these elites, since the production of the narratives encloused in the mesoamerican codices were closely linked to the influence and justification of political domain of the indigenous elites.

Three wastewater treatment systems (WWTS) situated on Cayes in the Belize Barrier Reef System were assessed in terms of the unique public health and environmental circumstances of being a tourist destination surrounded by fragile coral reef. Laughing Bird Caye, Silk Caye, and Little Water Caye are three small cayes that are the staging points for local diving, fishing, and other recreational tourism. All three systems are based upon pour-flush toilets, semi-anaerobic biodigesters and drainage fields. Limitations in cost, available resources, useable area, high infiltration rates of the sand, and salinity of the water have played a major factor in the construction and performance of the WWTS on the Cayes. This thesis aims to form an understanding of treatment efficiency of the WWTS, investigate the effectiveness of decentralized saltwater-based WWTS in comparison to freshwater-based WWTS, and provide recommendations to improve the performance and resource recovery in a manner appropriate for the context in which the systems are deployed. A mathematical model was developed to predict the performance of the WWTS based on available operational and water-quality input data. The model is based on the mass balances of six species: inert solids, fecal solids, bacterial biomass, soluble substrate (i.e. dissolved organic carbon), ammonium and nitrate. Effects of salinity were estimated for the two saltwater-based WWTS. The model predicted the effluent concentrations of fecal solids, soluble biological oxygen demand (BOD), ammonium, and nitrate. A sensitivity analysis was also performed on the predicted effluent treatment efficiency based upon influent load, oxygen concentration and system salinity. Results from Silk Caye and Laughing Bird Caye indicate that varying the number of visitors from seasonal lows to highs has a moderate impact on the effluent fecal solids and soluble BOD in the effluent. Due to the relatively large volume of the WWTS at Little Water Caye, and thus high HRT, varying the number of visitors did not have a significant effect. The model predicted a reduction of nitrogen from the effluent due to settled solids and the assimilation of the nitrogen into bacteria. However the model consistently projected an effluent nitrate concentration (as mg/L as N) between 60 and 63 across the three WWTS. The oxygen concentration within the WWTS had the greatest effect on effluent BOD of the three parameters tested in the sensitivity analysis. Results from the sensitivity analysis indicate that a minimum concentration of 0.95 mg/L of oxygen is required before the model can accurately predict the effluent BOD concentration. The concentration of effluent fecal solids did not significantly change with changes in oxygen concentration. Salinity had a significant effect on the predicted fecal solids and soluble BOD in the effluent. Predicted fecal solids in the effluent wastewater increased approximately 60 percent from freshwater conditions to 4 percent salinity. Similarly, effluent BOD concentration increased strongly with increasing salinity. The increase in concentration is due to the major reduction of substrate-consuming bacteria by cell-die-off. The model predicts that a significant increase in cell die-off begins to occur at 2.4 percent salinity. The predicted effluent of the freshwater-based WWTS on Little Water Caye was compared to 166 wastewater treatment plants operating in Brazil. Comparison between the WWTS on the Caye and the decentralized WWTS in Brazil indicate that the predicted removal efficiencies of total suspended solids and soluble BOD are higher than the measured efficiencies of the WWTS. However, the total nitrogen removal efficiency for the WWTS on the Caye was the least effective; most-likely because the model does not account for denitrification within the biodigester. The comparison between the WWTS illustrates that the predicted removal efficiency of BOD and TSS solids is most likely less in the actual measurement than predicted value from the model. The WWTS on the Cayes were constructed to mitigate the impacts of the wastewater produced by visitors on the general health of the pubic and the environment. Considering the reports of the eutrophication affecting the coral reefs surrounding the Cayes, the WWTS have largely failed in at least one aspect of their purpose. The effluent water quality predicted by the model also suggests that significant concentrations of nitrogen are entering the surrounding ocean habitat as ammonia and nitrate. Recommendations to improve the effluent wastewater quality were separated into three categories based upon the required level of input to realize the recommendation. The input includes the capital cost and labor of the change, the level of buy-in from the users of the system, and the resulting maintenance requirements. The implementation of a urine separation toilet system was proposed as a method to reduce effluent nitrogen entering the environment and to create a resource recovery system (RR) from the already constructed WWTS.

There is an epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu) primarily affecting younger men in Central America, especially El Salvador and Nicaragua. The primary hypothesis has included heat stress and dehydration. Although medication usage is widely viewed as a likely contributor to kidney damage, the association with chronic kidney disease in Central America has not been fully explored. This study investigated medication usage, symptom presentation, and kidney function among 524 outdoor workers in agricultural and non-agricultural industries enrolled in the Mesoamerican Nephropathy Occupational Study (MANOS) led by Boston University researchers. An overview of the literature on the adverse effects of medication on renal function and thermoregulation, with a focus on medications considered in MANOS, was conducted. Medication usage and symptom presentation on both a short- and long-term timeframe were explored in relation to kidney function measured by estimated glomerular filtration rate. Long-term usage of NSAIDS and potassium supplements was significantly associated with kidney function. Neither short- or long-term uses of acetaminophen, the most commonly used medication, were associated with kidney function. While several self-reported health symptoms were significantly associated with lower kidney function in crude models, the associations’ significance levels lessened after adjusting for age, country, and industry. In contrast, symptoms of chistata (a local term for painful urination) and lower abdominal pain three months prior to data collection each significantly predicted higher kidney function. The results of this exploratory, cross-sectional study present an opportunity for further study on how medications and symptoms, related to both nephrotoxicity and heat stress, could be associated with kidney function.

In 1988 data on coral reef community composition were collected from two areas, Akumal and Chemuyil, Quintana Roo, Mexico, ranging from 5-35m depth. These areas were revisited in 2005 and data were collected by the same methods and at the same depths as in 1988. Data from 1988 and 2005 were compared to determine if the coral reefs had undergone significant changes, and what specific changes had occurred. Chi-square analysis determined that community composition data collected in 1988 are significantly different from data collected in 2005 at all sites and depths within the categories of corals, gorgonians, sponges, and macroalgae. Mann-Whitney U analyses were performed on abundance data for coral, gorgonians, sponges, macroalgae, crustose coralline algae, erect coralline algae/calcareous algae, filamentous/multi-species turf algae, and non-living substrate. Results from the Mann-Whitney U analysis varied between sites; however significant trends of increasing macroalgae, crustose coralline algae and filamentous/multi-species turf, and declining non-living substrate were observed at almost all sites. H' biodiversity indices J' evenness values and species number (S) were calculated for all sites over the two time periods, with no discernable trends observed. Increases in crustose coralline algae and filamentous/multi-species turf algae suggest that eutrophication and overfishing may be responsible for the trends observed on the reefs at Akumal and Chemuyil. Anecdotal accounts also suggest that eutrophication from septic water flowing through the highly porous karst limestone of the Yucatan Peninsula may be the largest malefactor causing the observed changes. The increase in filamentous/multi-species turf algae exhibited by the data suggests that eutrophication is predominantly responsible for the alternate states of the reefs. Furthermore, evidences indicative of other forms of stress on the reefs, such as bleaching, scraped or broken coral heads, disease, and sedimentation, were rarely observed.

Le contenu et l’état de conservation exceptionnel du Codex Borbonicus en font un témoin précieux de la culture du bassin de Mexico-Tenochtitlan à l’époque de l’arrivée des conquistadors. Pour certains historiens il s’agit d’un document assurément précolombien, tandis que pour d’autres, une partie de son contenu graphique dénote une influence culturelle Européenne. Afin d’explorer les savoir-faire mis en œuvre lors de sa production et d’apporter de nouvelles données à ce débat, la nature et le mode de préparation des constituants du manuscrit sont étudiés, dans les limites offertes par les instrumentations transportables et non-invasives (spectroscopies de fluorescence de rayons X, de réflexion, d’émission et Raman). Une première interprétation des données analytiques enregistrées sur le manuscrit se base sur les connaissances issues des sources historiques et du corpus de manuscrits mésoaméricains déjà étudiés. Une analyse plus fine des données est apportée par des calculs de combinaisons spectrales et par l’étude expérimentale de certains colorants, qui permettent une compréhension plus avancée des techniques de production picturale employées. Afin de généraliser les conclusions tirées des mesures localisées, la distribution des constituants sur la totalité du document est également abordée. L’imagerie hyperspectrale, par l’application d’outils statistiques et le développement de cartographies de motifs spectraux spécifiques, apporte ainsi une nouvelle perspective aux résultats des analyses. L’utilisation exclusive de colorants organiques d’origine animale (Dactylopius coccus) ou végétale (Indigofera suffruticosa, Comellina coelestis, Justicia spicigera) dans le Codex Borbonicus, seuls ou en mélanges, correspond aux traditions précolombiennes. L’hypothèse d’une influence européenne ne peut donc s’appuyer sur la nature des constituants du document. Les données présentées viennent par ailleurs enrichir les connaissances sur les techniques de production de manuscrits Mésoaméricains. / The Codex Borbonicus is a great source of knowledge regarding different aspects of the culture of the basin of Mexico-Tenochtitlan at the time of the Spanish conquest. For some historians, the manuscript is definitely Precolumbian while for others, parts of its graphical contents reveal a European cultural influence. In order to investigate the technological knowledge that was involved for its creation, and to bring fresh data to the debate, the manuscript material constituents are studied with transportable, non-invasive analytical techniques (X-Ray fluorescence, reflexion, emission and Raman spectroscopies). A first interpretation of the analytical data recorded on the document is based on the historical records and the corpus of Mesoamerican manuscripts that have already been studied. A finer analysis of the data is done through the calculation of spectral combinations as well as the experimental studies of certain coloring materials, that allow a better understanding of the paint preparation techniques. In order to generalize the conclusion based on localized analyses, the spatial distribution of the constituent on the whole document is also explored. Hyperspectral imaging, with the aid of statistical tools and the mapping of specific spectral features, brings new insights to the first results. The exclusive use of organic colorants extracted from animal (Dactylopius coccus) or vegetable sources (Indigofera suffruticosa, Comellina coelestis, Justicia spicigera) in the Codex Borbonicus, alone or in mixtures, fits what is known of Precolumbian traditions. Therefore, the hypothesis of a European influence can’t be supported by the nature of the manuscript constituents. Moreover, these new data enrich the current knowledge on Mesoamerican manuscript production techniques.

Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar um conjunto de fontes mexicas e fontes tlapanecas, com narrativas históricas e registros tributários ameríndios, para compreender as representações produzidas por mexicas e tlapanecas sobre os acontecimentos políticos e econômicos em que se estabeleceram relações de subordinação tributária entre suas elites, vigentes de 1486 a 1521. Assim, iremos contrapor e comparar como essas relações foram representadas por duas unidades que são parte de um mesmo sistema tributário no qual ocupam posições distintas, uma como cabeceira da própria Tríplice Aliança, que é México-Tenochtitlan, e outra que é cabeceira de sua província, que é Tlapa-Tlachinollan. A hipótese inicial é que mexicas e tlapanecas construíram representações históricas diferentes sobre suas relações porque baseavam-se nos interesses de promover narrativas que destacassem o poderio de suas próprias elites. Essa relação de subordinação tributária dos tlapanecas está inserida em uma superestrutura administrativa de império, aplicada pelos mexicas, na qual era importante a manutenção de certa autonomia política das elites locais na condução cotidiana das províncias, de modo a não sobrecarregar o aparato estatal mexica. Dessa maneira, propomos um estudo mais detalhado das relações regionais nesse sistema de dominação, considerando a perspectiva representada por um dos poderios locais que compôs esse império, e destacando o sistema tributário como elemento que direcionava e mantinha essas relações de domínio político e de subordinação a partir da centralização estatal controlada por algumas elites. / The present study analyses selected mexica and tlapanec sources such as historical narratives and Amerindians tribute records to understand representation made by mexicas and tlapanecs about happenings in which were involved political and economical subordination relationship between their elites from 1486 to 1521. Therefore comparisions and interposition of how those relationships were two parts of one same tributary system playing different roles, one as head of Mexico - Tenochtitlan Triple Alliance and the other as head of its own Tlapa - Tlachninollan province. The initial hypotesis is that mexicas and tlapanecs built their own hystorical representation because they were interested in promoting narratives that highlighted their own elites. This tlapanec tributary subordination relationship is inserted in an Empire administration superstructure, used by mexicas and important in maintaning they local elite political autonomy in daily province management in order not to overload mexica state apparatus. In such way, it was conducted a more detailed study of their local relationships in the domination system, considered the perspective represented by one of the local power that was a part of the Empire with an emphasis on the tributary system as the factor that direct and kept those relationship public domain and subordination from State centralization controlled by some elites.

La documentation et description du huastèque du sud-est (code d’Ethnologue HSF), une langue Maya du Mexique, est un projet doctoral en cotutelle entre l’ University of Sydney, Australie et l’Université Lyon 2 Lumière, France. La première partie de cette these (le Volume 1) consiste en la description grammaticale de cette langue Maya: sa phonologie, sa morphologie et sa syntaxe, ainsi que la description de l’expression de l’espace dans cette langue. Le Volume 2 de cette thèse représente les contes en HSF, une description deétaillée du projet de documentation, un long résumé en français, et les matériels pour la revitalisation de la langue. / The documentation and description of South Eastern Huastec (Ethnologue code HSF), a Mayan language from Mexico, is a PhD project carried out in cotutelle between the University of Sydney, Australia and the Université Lyon 2 Lumière, France. The first part (the Volume 1) of this thesis is a grammatical description of this Mayan language: its Phonology, Morphology, and Syntax, as well as its Space encoding. The second volume (the Volume 2) of this thesis comprises HSF stories, a detailed description of the documentation project, a detailed summary in French, and the HSF revitalization materials.