ANTEL Selects ZTE for Uruguay National GPON Project

On September 19,2011, ZTE Corporation, a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, announced it has been selected by the Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones （ANTEL） to assist in providing 300,000 subscribers in the country with a gigabit passive optical network （GPON）. The tender was one of the largest ever put out in South America.

Explaining How Uruguay Became a ＂Religious Ghetto＂

Given Latin America＇s historical and robust religiosity, how do sociologists explain that Uruguay became an extremely secular society since the turn of the twentieth century？ Earliest attempts to interpret and explain Uruguayan secular society came in the 1960s from Uruguayan scholars. Typically, these studies were produced by religious practitioners, or at least researchers sympathetic to religion, who attributed weak religiosity, at least weak Catholicism, to two factors： the lack of a colonial heritage and European immigration. Counterfactuals to the ＂weak institution＂ and the ＂social base＂ claims are based on new research, especially as it pertains to immigration and settlement patterns among Italian and Spanish immigrants. The counter-arguments presented here, while not entirely invalidating the ＂social base＂ and ＂weak institutional church＂ claims make it more difficult to assume that urban demographics and ecclesiastical history in Uruguay are significantly correlated to the secularization of Uruguayan society. This study is important because it creates theoretical space that should stimulate researchers to consider alternative causes for Uruguayan secular society that provide greater explanatory power by integrating historically contingent evidence in the context of theoretical explanation

Agronomic Use of Slurry from Anaerobic Digestion of Agroindustrial Residues: Effects on Crop and Soil

In a greenhouse experiment we evaluated the application of slurry generated by a biogas reactor of agroindustrial residues. The objectives of this study were to determine the response to slurry application on dry matter production and nutrients absorption of Setaria italica (setaria), and to evaluate the effect of the slurry on soil properties. Two soils, of different texture, were mixed either with slurry or with diammonium phofsphate (DAP) at 0, 80, and160 kgN ha-1 equivalent rates. The setaria was harvested 68 days after planting, and separated into leaves plus stems, ears, and roots. Total biomass and content of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn were determined in each fraction. In the soil we determined pH, electric conductivity (EC), organic C, available P, mineral N, and exchangeable cations. Although the biomass produced and the amounts of nutrients absorbed were different in the two soils, in both of them setaria responded to the slurry application. The amounts of N absorbed from slurry and DAP were similar, indicating that the N from the slurry was readily available. The slurry application also increased the absorption of other macro and micro nutrients (P, Ca, Mg, and Zn). No significant changes in soil exchangeable cations, pH, and EC were observed at setaria harvest. In the silty soil the crop almost depleted the mineral N in all treatments, but in the sandy soil large amounts were left, especially in the treatments with slurry. This fact highlights the importance of a careful dosage of this soil amendment, to avoid the excess of mineral N, which is potential pollutant for the environment. It can be concluded that the use of slurry from the reactor had a positive effect on the nutrients availability, without negative effects on soil properties.

国际投资仲裁中公共健康保护的条约解释进路——以Philip Morris v. Uruguay案中VCLT第31条第3款c项的适用为视角

各国烟草控制措施引发了关于外国投资保护与东道国公共健康管制权冲突与协调的重大争议。老一代投资条约片面规定了不受限制的公平公正待遇和间接征收条款,不利于东道国行使正当公共健康管制权。Philip Morris v.Uruguay案仲裁庭适用《维也纳条约法公约》(VCLT)第31条第3款c项,援引习惯国际法解释和适用公平公正待遇和间接征收条款,认定东道国善意、合理、非歧视、合比例地行使公共健康管制权不违反投资条约中不受限制的公平公正待遇和间接征收条款。这表明,即使面对老一代投资条约,仲裁庭也能够通过条约解释平衡保护投资者私人权益和东道国公共健康。但是,通过条约解释保护公共健康的进路是不稳定的和不可预测的,各国应在投资条约中明确限定公平公正待遇的内容和间接征收的概念,加强保障东道国正当行使的公共利益管制权。

The adaptive value of grass traits in response to grazing

Aims Grazing is associated with several plant traits that may confer resist-ance to herbivores.However,cross-species analyses do not allow for the differentiation between adaptive evolution and common ancestry.in this study,we evaluated the effect of grazing on 5 mor-phological traits in 41 native grasses growing in natural grasslands of Uruguay and investigated whether such effects are independent of phylogeny.Methods We used data of grass species from 17 paired,grazed and ungrazed plots located in different regions of natural grass-lands of Uruguay.For each species,we calculated the Grazing Response index(GRi)and estimated the culm length,blade length,blade width,blade length/width ratio and caryopsis length.Trait values were calculated as the mean of the maximum and minimum values reported in a public database.We assessed the relationship between the GRi and the morphologi-cal traits using cross-species correlations,and we re-examined the correlations using phylogenetically controlled comparative analysis.Important Findings Culm length and blade length were significantly correlated with the GRi.Species with higher culms and longer blades diminished their cover under grazing.This association remained significant after statistical control of phylogenetic relatedness among species.By contrast,blade width,blade length/width ratio and caryopsis length did not show any significant relationship with the GRi.Many studies in temperate grasslands recognized that several plant traits respond to grazing but were rarely evaluated in a phylogenetic context.Our results are consistent with the idea that grazing is a selective force with a clear effect on the evolution of grass stature,selecting smaller plants with shorter blades.