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Miguel Antonio Caro is known as one of the most lucid conservative thinkers of nineteenth-century Latin America. His antiliberal thinking came to define what it meant to be a Catholic man of letters in Colombia and beyond. Today, he is mostly remembered for his work on linguistics, Latin translations, and the 1886 Colombian Constitution. However, Caro was also the most recalcitrant defender of paper money of his time. In press articles, he developed what can be described as a Hispanic Catholic theory of monetary signs. While he is often portrayed as an anti-modern ideologist, the financial dimensions of his writings reveal a very different picture. Vindicating a Spanish tradition of currency debasement that went back to Alfonso the Wise, the Colombian ultramontane conciliated his traditionalism with capitalism's global accumulation drive by equating paper money with God's infinite gift: the divine grace. He hence proposed a Catholic view of capitalist modernity that rejected the "evils" of utilitarianism but embraced Colombia's agro-exporter economic model as part of God's providential design. In his political-religious project, money is thus imagined as a key tool of the Christian oikonomia , that is, God's government of earthly affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global sustainability megatrends are promoting the utilization of sustainably perceived fibers such as recycled and agricultural residue fibers in hygiene tissue applications. Tissue paper products advertised as sustainable have higher prices and inferior performance than conventional products manufactured from virgin wood fibers. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using agricultural residues from fique plantations (Furcraea microphylla genus) as an alternative to Northern Bleached Softwood Fibers (NBSK) in high-performance hygiene tissue applications. For our study, fiber residues were mechanically cleaned and upgraded to a tissue pulp using a simple pulping and bleaching process. A complete characterization of tissue paper properties (bulk, softness, water absorbency, tensile strength) was performed and compared against the NBSK market pulp. Additionally, fique residue pulp was blended with Bleached Eucalyptus Kraft (BEK) to match the performance of a selected benchmark consisting of 70% BEK and 30% NBSK. Results indicate fique residue bleached pulp has similar fiber morphology and comparable strength properties in terms of the tensile strength (+ 6%) and tear strength (+ 10%), but superior bulk (+ 12%), water absorbency (+ 28%), and softness (−29% TS7 values) than NBSK pulp. A fiber blend of 70% BEK and 30% fique residue showed superior tensile strength (+ 21%), tear strength (+ 54%), bulk (+ 5.5%), water absorbency (+ 1.5%), and softness (−8.7% TS7 values) over a similar fiber blend of BEK and NBSK. Our findings demonstrate that fibers from fique residue can substitute NBSK in hygiene tissue applications. Upgrading residues from fique fibers as raw materials for the tissue industry can bridge the gap between sustainability and product performance, simultaneously opening the possibility of new revenue streams for millions of small farmers in the producing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of university students’ skills to successfully produce scientific documents has been a recurring topic of study in academia. This paper analyzes the implementation of a training experience using a digital environment mediated by video content materials starring humanoid robots. The research aimed to scale complex thinking and its sub-competencies as a hinge to strengthen basic academic research skills. Students from Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico committed to preparing a scientific document as part of their professional training participated. A pretest to know their initial level of perception, a posttest to evaluate if there was a change, and a scientific document the students delivered at the end of the training experience comprised the methodology to demonstrate the improvement of their skills. The results indicated students’ perceived improvement in the sub-competencies of systemic, creative, scientific, and innovative thinking; however, their perceptions did not align with that of the tutor who reviewed the delivered scientific product. The conclusion was that although the training experience helped strengthen the students’ skills, variables that are determinants for a student to develop the knowledge necessary to prepare scientific documents and their derived products remain to be analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009, through Court Order 004, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared that thirty‐four separate groups of Indigenous peoples were at risk of extermination due to armed conflict, and it ordered the government to protect them. In 2013, the court then ordered the government to prove its compliance with Order 004. The government did so through a complex documentation process. The production of documents in Colombia not only records compliance but also constitutes compliance even if the actions are limited. In this article, I examine the role of documentation in mediating legal protection in a violent context. How does a governmental report obscure a persisting threat that is mostly ignored? Using participant observation at the Colombian Interior Ministry on the government's response, I illustrate how this documentation converts ordinary governmental actions into restitution of rights and manufactures compliance via the display—and concealment—of numbers through a focus on aesthetics. This generates the effect of sufficient state response while obfuscating the failure to achieve any intended changes: a phenomenon that I term complying incompliantly. Transforming negligence into a proper response through a paper trail outsmarts auditing and maintains the state's legitimacy by normalizing the government's shortcomings. This article contributes to the analysis of the relationship among law, documentation, and transparency. [Colombia, Indigenous peoples, human rights, documentation, compliance] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A corrigendum has been issued for an article published in Acta Paediatrica titled "Short-term neurological injury in newborn infants with overcooling in passive hypothermia and transferred to reference hospital in Colombia." The corrigendum addresses an error in Table 3, specifically regarding the use of symbols ">" and "<" in the group "Age of Onset of Hypothermia (hours)." The revised table rectifies the inaccuracies and ensures the precision of the findings. The online version of the article has been corrected accordingly. [Extracted from the article]

In this study, we revised the lichen collection at the Herbario Amazonico Colombiano (coah) in Bogotá, Colombia. The collection has a total of nearly 2,400 specimens, with some duplicates in the Herbario Nacional (col) and in the herbarium of the Botanic Garden in Berlin (b). The revision of 1,861 specimens revealed 574 species in 142 genera and 44 families, among which there are 28 species new to science and seven new combinations. Previously, 324 species had been reported from the Colombian Amazon, and our revision resulted in a new total of 666 species, more than doubling the previous number. All 666 species are enumerated here in the first comprehensive checklist of lichens from the Colombian Amazon. A total of 157 new country records (53 already reported in the new Catalogue of Fungi of Colombia) increase the number of lichens known from Colombia to 2,827. The following species are described as new: Allographa exuens, differing from A. argentata by the lirellae with the corticiform layer soon flaking off and exposing the black labia, the only finely inspersed hymenium, and the narrower ascospores; A. guainiae, differing from Graphis syzygii in the prominent ascomata with lateral thalline margin and whitish thallus remnants between the striae; A. labiata, differing from A. immersa in the prominent lirellae with conspicuous, entire, exposed labia, an inspersed hymenium, longer ascospores, and stictic acid as secondary compound; A. lichexanthonica, differing from A. sitiana in producing lichexanthone; A. sessilis, differing from A. contortuplicata in the muriform ascospores; A. suprainspersata, differing from A. angustata in the very thin thalline cover of the ascomata and the apically inspersed hymenium; Astrothelium bireagens, differing from A. cinnamomeum by the broader, apically flattened perithecia covered by a thin, ferruginous-red, K+ deep purple pruina and internally with an ochraceous-yellow, K+ deep yellow pigment; A. stromatolucidum, differing from A. neovariolosum in the distinctly pseudostromatic ascomata; Carbacanthographis submultiseptata, differing from C. multiseptata in the narrower ascospores and the indistinct periphysoids; Chapsa inconspicua, differing from C. angustispora in the smooth to uneven versus farinose thallus and in the much shorter ascospores; Coenogonium velutinellum, differing from C. pineti in the finely velvety, rather thick thallus composed of irregular to erect, densely packed algal threads covered by a thin pseudocortex; Fellhanera naevioides, differing from F. naevia in the finely dispersed, minutely crenulate thallus and the blackish apothecia; Fissurina sipmanii, differing from F. amazonica in the shorter and broader, slightly gaping, somewhat chroodiscoid ascomata, and the amyloid ascospores; Glyphis lirellizans, differing from Glyphis substriatula in the erumpent vs. prominent lirellae with lateral thalline margin and the exposed disc; Graphis papillifera, differing from G. stellata in the lirellae lacking a thalline margin, very elongate and irregularly to radiately branched and not in stellate clusters, and in the 5-septate ascospores; G. pseudoglyphis, differing from Graphis stellata in the non-verrucose thallus, the branched lirellae which do not, however, form stellate clusters, and the shorter ascospores; Malmidea flavimarginata, differing from M. bacidinoides in the pale yellow, K+ deep yellow medulla and yellow, K+ deep yellow excipular crystals, as well as the smaller ascospores; M. isidiopiperina, differing from M. taytayensis in the smaller ascospores; M. papillitrailiana, differing from M. trailiana in the papillose apothecial margins; Myriotrema araracuarense, differing from Myriotrema muluense in the non-annulate pores of the apothecia and in the longer ascospores; Ocellularia areolata, differing from Ocellularia rhicnoporoides in the pigmented medulla and the larger, more prominent apothecia with completely carbonized excipulum; O. caquetensis, differing from Ocellularia rotundifumosa in the absence of a columella; O. inspersipallens, differing from O. viridipallens in the inspersed hymenium and the 5–7-septate ascospores; O. rufocinctoides, differing from O. rufocincta in the thallus lacking large and irregular crystal clusters, in the more prominent apothecia and in the smaller ascospores; O. sipmanii, differing from Ocellularia abbayesiana in the smaller, 3-septate ascospores; Pseudopyrenula daironii, differing from all other species of the genus in the aggregate perithecia with shared ostiole and the internal orange-red pigment granules lining the perithecial wall; Pyrenula asymmetrica, differing from Pyrenula papilligera in the longer, almost rectangular ascospores; and Redingeria pseudostromatica, differing from other species in the genus in the pseudostromatic ascomata with small, rounded apothecia, in combination with 1-septate ascospores. In addition, the following seven new combinations are proposed: Bacidina cyanophila (≡ Bacidina simplex var. cyanophila), Malmidea sorediifera (≡ Lecanora sorediifera), Ocellularia fuscescens (≡ Thelotrema fuscescens), Phaeographis cymbegrapha (≡ Graphis cymbegrapha; = Phaeographis amazonica Staiger], Polyblastidium flavosquamosum (≡ Heterodermia flavosquamosa), Polyblastidium lamelligerum (≡ Parmelia lamelligera), and Polyblastidium rottboellii (≡ Anaptychia hypoleuca var. rottboellii). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to identify complementary strategies for urban freight logistics in a low emission zone (LEZ) that can be implemented in downtown Medellin, Colombia. The strategies will be executed by identifying the characteristics and problems of the business establishments in the area and the entrepreneurs’ opinions. Design/methodology/approach: First, a literature review is performed to identify global and complementary strategies for the future LEZ, which is the study subject. Then, a “pilot” zone (a main corridor) of downtown Medellín is selected, and the business establishments of the area are identified to spot problems and evaluate possible strategies for the future LEZ. This identification and evaluation phase is conducted by interviewing logistics managers in 105 establishments selected in the corridor for analysis. Findings: One of the outstanding findings concerns the specificity of the logistics and mobility problems in downtown Medellin, located in Colombia, a developing country. The main issues are traffic congestion, lack of regulation and control in loading and unloading areas, as well as inadequate infrastructure for these operations. These obstacles significantly impact business activities and air quality in the area. The proposed solutions to complement the LEZ strategy for freight transport focus on improving regulation, establishing specific loading and unloading areas, exploring sustainable transportation options such as the cargo bike, and supporting small and medium-sized businesses. This emphasizes the situation’s complexity and the need for a comprehensive approach to address these logistical and environmental challenges. Originality/value: This study analyses urban freight logistics strategies that complement the traffic flow restriction policies imposed by low-emission zones. Unlike other studies that address these two issues independently, this paper specifically examines how to improve a LEZ as a comprehensive strategy to reduce the environmental impact of freight transport. In addition, it is noted that most publications tend to focus on passenger mobility strategies, which highlights the potential for research in the freight logistics field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial summarizes the papers in issue 17(4) (2022). The first paper combines input–output modelling with priority weighting to analyse supply-chain impacts of disasters. The second paper examines skill-based functional specialization of value chains in Brazil using interregional and international value-added measures. The third paper questions the common belief that agglomeration economies are the driving force behind cluster formation using an agent-based model. The fourth paper applies modern instrumental variables techniques to measure the impact of forced migration flows from Venezuela to Colombia on house prices. The fifth paper explores the impact of an ageing population on per capita labour income, consumption and wealth at the regional level using a multivariate spatial econometric model. The sixth paper examines the impact of neighbouring countries on migrants' aggregate decisions to remit based on an advanced spatial econometric origin–destination model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of deposit insurance on depositor behavior. Our theoretical framework integrates insights from public and financial economics and predicts that (1) deposit insurance induces bunching at the threshold in the deposit distribution and (2) an increase in the insurance threshold promotes deposit growth, particularly higher for individuals bunching at the initial limit. We exploit a large and unexpected increase in the Colombian insurance together with monthly depositor-level records from a major bank to test these predictions. We validate the existence of bunching in deposits and quantify the heterogeneous effect of deposit insurance on individual deposit growth. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Colombiana de Química is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper I analyse how the gradual reduction of research funds in Colombia can interrupt a key process in the generation of solutions to global urban problems. I draw on a bibliometric analysis to show that research funding flowing from North to South has created collaborations between researchers from North and South that have led to a better and more comprehensive understanding of the challenges facing cities around the world. To conclude, I propose four options to counteract these trends towards lower research funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pedagogía y Saberes is the property of Universidad Pedaggica Nacional and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Encuentros is the property of Universidad Autonoma del Caribe and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to generate knowledge about assessment methods in blended business education, which have become increasingly important to establish sustainable assessment practices that support knowledge acquisition for undergraduate students in business administration at a Colombian university. Design/methodology/approach: For the analysis, a two groups comparison was performed using a nonequivalent control group design with a sample of 420 students. As this study wants to find insights to improve the knowledge on assessment topics in marketing research (MR) education, it was focused on the students from the business administration program. This study also uses individual scores from the state test as prior cognitive scores and the high school classification provided by the National Ministry of Education in Colombia (2012). Findings: It was found that the variables that best predict performance on the MR course examinations were the mathematics skills and reading comprehension scores on the state test. The study also showed a better performance of female students on both assessment methods. There were no significant differences between the assessment methods or among the high school levels. Research limitations/implications: One of the limitations of this study is the limited number of items on the tests. Additionally, the authors recommend conducting an analysis of the differences between the testing items to provide a detailed explanation of students' performance when comparing computer-based testing and paper-and-pencil testing. Practical implications: Further design of teaching material and assessments online and offline, based on local and regional marketing problems, is suggested. As the current text and readings are more oriented to the English-speaking contexts, most of the problems presented are oriented to multinational companies and brands. Social implications: Insights into the skills required for future jobs provide valuable guidance (World Economic Forum, 2020). Essential skills for emerging roles, like data scientists, can find robust support within the MR course. To further enrich in-class and online exercises with Excel and SPSS, Colombian educators can leverage data sets obtained from sources like the national statistics office and international market intelligence databases available through the university's library, including Passport and Statista. Engaging with authentic data sets provides students with a more profound understanding of practical applications in MR. Originality/value: This approach facilitates the identification of key variables, such as assessment and cognitive abilities in math and reading, which predict students' knowledge acquisition in MR. It not only offers insights into the relevant factors influencing learning in MR but also provides valuable feedback. Additionally, it suggests potential avenues for future research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exploits the sharp escalation of violence in Colombia in the 1980s associated with the emergence of drug cartels to provide novel evidence on the long-run effects of violence exposure throughout the life-course, on children's educational attainment and academic achievement using administrative data. I find that, a higher homicide rate in early-childhood is associated with a higher probability of school dropout and conditional on completing high school, lower scores on a national end-of-high school exam. Results are robust to several falsification tests, and analyses of potential sources of selection bias. I provide supportive evidence that changes in fetal, child, and adolescent health outcomes are important potential mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning a foreign language incorporates cognitive, communicative, emotional, and social aspects. Some of these aspects have to do with the structure of the language being studied; some others deal with social and psychological issues that influence the environment where the learning process takes place. This reflection paper addresses various emotional aspects that can bring up positive outcomes along the foreign language learning stages. Elements such as motivation, attitudes, levels of anxiety, acculturation, ethnicity, and personality are considered for this work. Readers should be able to find useful ideas for their ESL/EFL classes.

Previous research on bilingual mathematics education has proposed that as children "language mathematics" they use multiple sources of meaning. In this paper, we focus on lexical inventions—bilingual children's made up words that are not formally defined or used but follow the phonology and morphology of a language—as a source of meaning. Consistent with tenets from translanguaging, we recognize lexical inventions as a creative language practice defying idealized language norms. A raciolinguistic theoretical perspective informs our interpretation of children, teachers, and researchers as listening subjects. The purpose of this paper is to explore how mathematical lexical inventions can prompt a translanguaging space where children, teachers, and researchers resist listening subject positions that predispose them to listen for predetermined language practices. Drawing on two lesson transcripts, one from a fourth-grade English-immersion classroom in Colombia and one from a third-grade Spanish-immersion classroom in the United States, we used moment analysis in translanguaging spaces to identify spontaneous and critical moments where lexical inventions prompted mathematical explorations. We argue for adopting listening subject positions as learners of transgressive language practices that are part of interactions between children and mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to find the incidence of university sustainability, as sustainability practices, in university performance at private universities. Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative research using structural equation modelling. Data collection and analysis followed sustainability and performance scales from previous research. The scales were validated by surveying students, teachers and administrative staff of five private universities in Medellin, Colombia. The responses (i.e. 5,344 useful answers) were collected between April 2019 and December 2020 and analysed using the Smart partial least square (PLS) software and the PLS calculation methodology. Findings: The results confirmed the reliability and validity of the sustainability and performance university measurement models and validated the dimensions proposed to determine sustainability and performance holistically in private universities. The results confirmed that universities implementing sustainability holistically in their system positively impact their performance as higher education institutions. The university sustainability is forecasting the University Performance in about 60% of the universities analysed, with a considerable contribution from sustainability in outreach and strategic management. Research limitations/implications: This study was cross-sectional and empirically validated the model of sustainability and performance at five private universities in a single period and territory. A broader validation from longitudinal studies considering other universities in Colombia and Latin America is suggested to understand local and regional trends better. Practical implications: Results provided a model for better understanding the incidence of sustainability in performance holistically at private universities in developing countries such as Colombia. In addition, the proposed dimensions and model could help regional decision-making on higher education. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts relating a structural equation model and inter-university research on the incidence of sustainability in private university performance. This work contributes to a local consensus on sustainability and performance models at private universities. Furthermore, from this research emerged a joint policy framework for incorporating sustainability holistically and regionally as an effective strategy for universities and their commitment to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a hitherto unpublished 1970 paper written by Lauchlin Currie (1902–1993) on Paul Rosenstein Rodan's famous 1943 paper on the "Big Push" which led to the balanced-unbalanced growth debate to which Albert Hirschman (1915–2012) was an important contributor. Both Currie and Hirschman had been key economic advisers to the Colombian government, and their respective views on development planning are contrasted. In particular, it is shown how Currie's 1970 paper illuminates the theory behind the 1971–1974 national plan for Colombia that he prepared and helped deliver; and how the related institutional innovations have had an enduring impact on Colombia's recent economic history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Varietal studies of sedimentary provenance use the properties of individual minerals or mineral groups. These are recorded as lists of numerical tables that can be difficult to interpret. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) is a popular multivariate ordination technique for analyzing other types of provenance data based on, for example, detrital geochronology or petrography. Applying MDS to varietal data would allow them to be treated on an equal footing with those other provenance proxies. MDS requires a method to quantify the dissimilarity between two samples. This paper introduces three ways to do so. The first method ("treatment‐by‐row") turns lists of (compositional) data tables into lists of vectors, using principal component analysis. These lists of vectors can then be treated as "distributional" data and subjected to MDS analysis using dissimilarity measures such as the Kolmogorov‐Smirnov statistic. The second method ("treatment‐by‐column") turns lists of compositional data tables into multiple lists of vectors, each representing a single component of the varietal data. These multiple distributional data sets are subsequently subjected to Procrustes analysis or 3‐way MDS. The third method uses the Wasserstein‐2 distance to jointly compare the rows and columns of varietal data. This arguably makes the best use of the data but acts more like a "black box" than the other two methods. Applying the three methods to a detrital titanite data set from Colombia yields similar results. After converting varietal data to dissimilarity matrices, they can be combined with other types of provenance data, again using Procrustes analysis or 3‐way MDS. Plain Language Summary: The source of modern or ancient sediment can be determined by examining either the overall characteristics of the sediment or the chemical composition of individual sediment particles. With the help of recent analytical advancements, geologists can now analyze the complete chemical makeup of single grains of sand or silt. These types of data sets, known as "varietal" data sets, have the ability to uncover differences between sediments that are not visible through traditional methods. However, varietal data are incompatible with the statistical methods that geologists typically use to determine the origin of sediment. This paper addresses this issue by presenting three methods for quantifying the differences between varietal data sets, which is a crucial step in any further statistical analysis. Testing these methods on a varietal data set from Colombia shows similar outcomes. By using the techniques described in this paper, varietal data can now be combined with other conventional methods for determining sediment origin. Key Points: Varietal data are defined as lists of compositional tablesGiven an appropriate dissimilarity measure, varietal data can be subjected to multidimensional scalingThis paper introduces three ways to quantify the pairwise dissimilarity of varietal data [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of HOW: A Colombian Journal for Teachers of English is the property of Asociacion Colombiana de Profesores de Ingles and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this paper is to systematize the political practice of three initiatives related to the concept of plain language on the Latin-American legislative arena. On the one hand, I explore part of literature on legislative studies to account for one of the communicative limits faced by legislation (Xanthaki, 2010, 2019) and on the other, present the instrumental nature of plain language to overcome this limit and achieve the widest possible dissemination of legislative messages for lay audiences. The work is based on a descriptive-analytical review of three public initiatives that inhabit three Latin America countries that, in turn, have in common a collective phenomenon called «Plain Language Networks». These Networks involve the parliaments of each country, and they are implementing (or have implemented) a very similar initiative: 'Ley Fácil' (Chile), 'Ley Simple' (Argentina) and 'La ley en tu lenguaje' (Uruguay). The paper draws, methodologically, on the results of a questionnaire sent to those responsible for the three initiatives, designed to understand their implementation in greater depth. Arguably, the initiatives are aimed and are framed by principles of open parliament, institutional strengthening, transparency, trust, and citizen participatory; my argument is that Ley Fácil ('Eays Law' (Chile)), Ley Simple ('Simple Law' (Argentina)) and La Ley en tu lenguaje ('Law in your Language' (Uruguay)) are, essentially, political pedagogy tools to increase the «ability of people to (i) access and (ii) understand the laws that govern their lives» (Roznai & Mordechay, 2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal transport sector has various ambivalent characteristics and often a negative connotation since it commonly operates unauthorized and illicitly and is not part of the official transport sector. However, the informal sector provides a mix of legitimate transport offerings as well as important complementary services. The paper focuses on these 'new mobilities' and aims to understand informal transportation systems not only as a service coverage in specific areas lacking formal transit, but also as an activity that arises as a popular form of struggle and a covert and unorganized form of resistance against the political power embedded in dominant transportation systems. Through an empirical study conducted in the region of Urabá in Colombia the paper explores how the dominant agricultural industries in the region are causing huge challenges related to the overlap of transportation scales, congestion and risks of accidents in urban areas, affecting urban development, and how injustices of the existing public transport services and insufficient road infrastructures trigger the production of informal transportation. The paper mobilizes the theory of 'everyday forms of resistance', which draws attention to certain common behaviour and activities of subaltern groups as tactics to survive and undermine repressive domination. As such, this paper questions through its case study to what extent the informal transportation actions in Urabá are in a way challenging oppression and can be called an everyday form of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tardigrades, with over 1450 species, are important organisms in ecological understanding and are valuable biological models (e.g., due to their extremotolerant capabilities). While their biodiversity is better known in Europe and North America, Central and South America have only recently started making significant contributions. Through a comprehensive review of scientific literature, biological collections, web portal consultations, and the addition of new records, this study clarifies the current knowledge of tardigrade biodiversity in Colombia. Past research started in the early 20th century, but most data are unreliable due to information gaps and the absence of specimens in biological collections. The last decade has witnessed a resurgence in tardigrade research in Colombia, leading to new species descriptions and a more robust understanding of their biodiversity. Nevertheless, the majority of the territory remains unexplored. A total of 43 known species from our analysis are present in Colombia: 26 records accepted by the literature and 17 questioned in the literature but representing distinct taxa surely present in Colombia. Other species records are considered doubtful. Our study recommends considering mostly scientific records based on verifiable material deposited in scientific collections (highlighting their importance in studying and safeguarding biodiversity) and encourages future researchers to contribute while adhering to legal requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper identifies opportunities and challenges for leishmaniasis control and elimination in Colombia, emphasizing the role of pooled procurement of essential medicines and supplies. Colombia is among the countries most affected by leishmaniasis globally, and also faces the dual challenge of procuring critically needed medicines in the context of limited national resources. It recently renewed its commitment to the control and elimination of leishmaniasis under its 2022–2031 Public Health Plan (PDSP) through a comprehensive public health approach. Methodology/Principal findings: The methodology comprises a comprehensive literature review and key informant interviews with leishmaniasis experts from the Colombian national control program and PAHO/WHO, focusing on cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is endemic throughout Colombia, with over 11 million people at risk, many of whom live in poverty-stricken, remote and isolated rural areas with limited access to health services. Leishmaniasis care, including medicines, is provided free of charge, but many barriers were nonetheless identified at environmental, population, and health system levels, including the supply of quality-assured medicines. Opportunities to alleviate these barriers were identified, including the support of the PAHO Strategic Fund. Within the context of the sustainable development goals and international leishmaniasis control and elimination targets, Colombian officials have established their own priorities, the highest of which is the reduction of deaths from visceral leishmaniasis. Conclusions/Significance: The elimination of leishmaniasis as a public health problem presents significant challenges, given its biological complexity and diversity, physical and clinical manifestations, social and economic impacts, frequently burdensome treatment regimens, and insufficient supply of necessary medicines. However, rigorous prevention and control efforts through strong political commitment and a highly motivated workforce can dramatically reduce its burden. Colombia's new PDSP, which highlights leishmaniasis control, is an opportunity for a revitalized health system response through committed leadership, intersectoral actions, and partnerships with international organizations that share a common vision. Author summary: Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease transmitted by female sand flies to humans and animals, causing infections ranging from asymptomatic and self-healing cutaneous leishmaniasis to visceral leishmaniasis which is highly lethal if untreated. Although all forms of leishmaniasis are treatable and curable with early diagnosis and treatment, the disease presents many challenges for affected populations, many of whom live in remote rural areas of the developing world, with limited access to public health facilities. Health services also face major constraints in supplying critically needed, yet costly medicines, in the context of limited financial resources. This paper presents the case of Colombia which is among the countries most affected by leishmaniasis globally, and discusses its many challenges in responding to the disease, including the guaranteed supply of necessary medicines. Our results uncover new opportunities for a revitalized health system response through committed leadership, intersectoral actions, such as a One Health approach, and partnerships with like-minded international organizations. These include Colombia's new 10-Year Public Health Plan that contains specific time-bound goals for leishmaniasis control and elimination as a public health problem, prioritizing a reduction in deaths from visceral leishmaniasis, and potential cost-savings from the acquisition of essential medicines and supplies through the Strategic Fund of the Pan American Health Organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology & Society is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes a novel qualitative dataset regarding coffee pests based on the ancestral knowledge of coffee farmers in the Department of Cauca, Colombia. The dataset has been obtained from a survey applied to coffee growers with 432 records and 41 variables collected weekly from September 2020 to August 2021. The qualitative dataset includes climatic conditions, productive activities, external conditions, and coffee bio-aggressors. This dataset allows researchers to find patterns for coffee crop protection through the ancestral knowledge not detected by real-time agricultural sensors. As far as we are concerned, there are no datasets like the one presented in this paper with similar characteristics of qualitative value that express the empirical knowledge of coffee farmers used to detect triggers of causal behaviors of pests and diseases in coffee crops. Dataset:  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8275090. Dataset License: Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive Summary: The near collapse of the Venezuelan economy since 2015 and the concomitant erosion of public order have led to an exodus of over seven million people by mid-2023, the largest forced migrant flow in recent Latin American history and the second largest globally after Syria. It occurs against a global backdrop of a 400 percent increase in persons displaced across borders between 2010 and 2021. Colombia hosts the largest number of Venezuelan refugees — with about 2.5 million officially recorded by the government. This has occurred during a politically tumultuous period in Colombia, which has featured the reconfiguration of competing illegal armed groups since the signing of the 2016 Peace Accord between the government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a major COVID-19 outbreak in 2020–2021, and a crippling and protracted national strike in 2021. Within the hemispheric context, Colombia serves as a stop-gap to stem the flow of Venezuelan refugees northward, roughly similar to the role played by Mexico to intercept and diminish migration to the United States. This has especially been the case since the January 5, 2023 announcement by US President Biden, which specified that refugees cannot declare asylum in the US if they attempt to cross the US border without first seeking asylum in their initial transit country. For Venezuelan refugees, the first country they enter is typically Colombia. Further, in May 2023, the Biden administration announced it was considering sending US troops to the Darien Peninsula in Panama, and will perhaps train Colombian forces, to diminish the "trafficking" of Venezuelan refugees and other refugees passing through Colombia and headed north. The result, according to leaders of NGOs and other who work directly with refugees, has been more pressure on Colombia to retain them. The argument here is twofold. First, human security threats for Venezuelan refugees should be viewed intersectionally in the particular spaces through which they pass — from the collapse of order in their home countries (which qualifies them as refugees), through the borderlands with Colombia that pose specific threats to their safety and wellbeing, and to their destinations within Colombia that offer their own peculiar array of opportunities and human security challenges. Second, regularization programs such as the Estatuto Temporal de Protección de Migrantes Venezolanos (ETPMV) are the best way to promote human security for refugees in Colombia in the short and medium terms, but this process needs to be more inclusive.1 The first half of this paper discusses the conceptual underpinnings that link power/mobility/space to human security for refugees. The second part brings those concepts to life through interviews with an assortment of refugees. The paper draws from a database of interviews with 72 Venezuelan refugees in Colombia in 2022 and 2023 regarding the intersectional nuances of human security. It also relies on interviews with dozens of security, migration, and human rights experts in Colombia since 1997. A unique conceptual perspective is developed regarding critical human security for Venezuelan refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing smart microgrids for Non-Interconnected Zones (NIZs) has become an alternative solution to provide electrical energy by taking advantage of the resources available through the generation of renewable energy within these isolated areas. Within this context, in this study, the challenges related to microgrids and data analysis are presented, and different relevant data architectures described in the literature are compared. This paper focuses on the design of a data architecture for a smart microgrid for NIZs whose microgrid contains two 260 W solar panels, a 480 W inverter, and two 260 Ah batteries. Regarding the Colombian context, this paper describes the limitations (connectivity, isolation, appropriation of technologies) and opportunities (low demand, access to natural resources, state interest) from which the functional and non-functional requirements for the architecture are established. Finally, a data architecture is proposed and implemented in a NIZ in Colombia, and this paper also includes a description of the architecture, its characteristics, its associated opportunities and challenges, and discussions regarding its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research has explored the relationship between professors and the academic capitalist regime. Nevertheless, this literature has mainly focused on fields heavily engaged with industry at top-ranked research universities in English-speaking countries. In this paper, we analyze the link between faculty promotion policy and professors as agents who introduce (or resist) the academic capitalist regime in the Colombian context. In order to cover heterogeneity among professors and higher education institutions, we consider two dissimilar academic departments at one public university. This multicase study examines how Colombian professors translate faculty promotion policy into actions on both intra- and inter-department levels. The findings indicate that the unique context of each academic department fostered or hindered professors in moving toward "the ideal professor," as promoted by the analyzed policy. In terms of academic capitalism, regardless of the academic department, professors did not internalize the inclusion of profit motive as part of their research activities. However, some professors were guided by prestige behavior through (but not limited to) the academic journal publishing market. This article concludes by highlighting the need to incorporate prestige behavior as part of the theory of academic capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many collections held by Columbia's Rare Books and Manuscript Library contain precious and little explored visual documentation on the turbulent history of late 19th and 20th century Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. These photographs deal with topics ranging from Russian culture in emigration, the late Romanov dynasty and the Russian imperial military to American travelers and philanthropy in revolutionary Russia and Eastern Europe. The Columbia collections in great part complement those held at the Hoover Institution Archives and the nearby NYPL Slavic collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing displacement of theory and other forms of wide-ranging knowledge of social phenomena by empirical research methods in economics is widely noted by economists and historians of economic knowledge. Less attention has been devoted, however, to understand the materialization of such changes in the scientific practices. This article studies the recent transformations in the epistemological practices at CEDE, a research center in Colombia. I use a machine learning technique called Topic Modeling, interviews to CEDE researchers, and exegesis of papers to characterize a shift in the production of knowledge in microeconometrics at CEDE during the years 2000 and 2018. I explain this shift by characterizing two sets of epistemological practices that implies a recent tendency to disdain research that cannot make a "strong" causal inference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin America (LATAM) plays an important role in the world's production of aquatic animals and is the second most productive region in the world. Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Perú contribute 87% of LATAM aquaculture production. The fish welfare in aquaculture is of increasing public concern globally, and LATAM is no exception, growing in importance for fish farmers, authorities, and scientists. Although the topic is somewhat controversial, the welfare status of farmed fish has direct implications for their production and the sustainability of the industry. Therefore, this study analyses scientific papers on animal welfare in farmed fish, from the six countries in LATAM with the highest aquaculture production. The main objectives were to quantify the number of papers published between 2000 and 2023 on fish welfare by using scientific databases. A total of 285 papers were found for the period analysed. The country with the largest number of publications was Brazil (75.79%), followed by Chile (13.33%), Mexico (7.02%), Peru (1.75%), Ecuador, and Colombia (1.05%). Nile tilapia was the most studied species, appearing in 30.18% of the publications, with most of the studies mainly dealing with nutrition (32.28%). The growth of aquaculture is leading to joint efforts to generate knowledge on welfare issues, especially in poorly studied species with high production, to create policies that help minimize welfare risks. Given this, the insights generated by this review could be a useful addition to approaches investigating the trends and concepts of fish welfare in LATAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent works have demonstrated the great performance of forgery image forensics based on deep learning, but there is still a risk that detectors could be susceptible to unknown illegal attacks, raising growing security concerns. This paper starts from the perspective of reverse forensics and explores the vulnerabilities of current image manipulation detectors to achieve targeted attacks. We present a novel reverse decision aggregate gradient attack under low-frequency constraints (RevAggAL). Specifically, we first propose a novel pixel reverse content decision-making (PRevCDm) loss to optimize perturbation generation with a specific principle more suitable for segmenting manipulated regions. Then, we introduce the low-frequency component to constrain the perturbation into more imperceptible details, significantly avoiding the degradation of image quality. We also consider aggregating gradients on model-agnostic features to enhance the transferability of adversarial examples in black-box scenarios. We evaluate the effectiveness of our method on three representative detectors (ResFCN, MVSSNet, and OSN) with five widely used forgery datasets (COVERAGE, COLUMBIA, CASIA1, NIST 2016, and Realistic Tampering). Experimental results show that our method improves the attack success rate (ASR) while ensuring better image quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stand-alone price analysis of illicit opium and coca does not explain why smallholders turn to illicit crops for coping and survival. Under conditions of precarity, illicit crop markets can stimulate productivity. They generate returns that can tame crises and relieve pressures. To smallholders facing marginalisation, violence, and climate change – growing opium and coca, despite their illegality, can reduce or spread risks and provide more predictability. Thus, rather than fix on the 'invisible hand' of price theory, the focus should be on the 'visible hand' of political entrepreneurship, interdependent relationships, and the metrics of precarity. To do this, this paper retrospectively compares illicit crop prices before and after certain historical moments in Bolivia, Myanmar, Colombia, and Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on civic education and the constitution of subjects within a complex landscape of peace and war making in Colombia. Using a genealogical approach to study the manufacturing of citizens, and drawing on a document analysis of policies, curricular guidelines, and teaching resources, this paper evidences an increasing attention to students' skills, conducts, and interpersonal relations, rather than structural inequality and injustice. Through the examination of the "integral citizen," I argue that the development of students as skillful civic subjects has become central to the aspiration of building and sustaining peace and democracy. Such citizens are described as individually embodying the virtues and skills of problem-solving, conflict-management, autonomy, and self-regulation of emotions. This research adds to our understanding of the construction of the ideal citizen in conflict-affected settings, and how education policy intersects with larger efforts for meaningful and sustained change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contaduría y Administración is the property of Facultad de Contaduria y Administracion-Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objetives: The adoption of vaccines was a crucial factor in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccination rates between rural and urban areas varied greatly. In this paper, our objective is to understand the individual and institutional factors associated with the uptake of vaccines in remote rural areas in Colombia. Methods: We interviewed a random sample of 800 households (1,592 individuals) in remote rural areas of Antioquia (Colombia) during February 2022 when vaccinations were available. Then, we use a linear probability model to explain the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. Results: The results indicate that the probability of having at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is positively associated with access to information, trust in police and army, and the perceived risk of contracting COVID-19. Trust in the church is negatively related to vaccination. Conclusion: Institutions can play a critical role in the management of pandemics. Timely information on the risks associated with the disease and perceived riskiness are key factors that mobilize the population to take the COVID-19 vaccine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-stakeholder participation processes in watershed management face challenges due to limited monitoring and baseline data, resulting in a lack of awareness among stakeholders about the current state of the watershed. This knowledge gap often leads to conflicts of interest, wherein the broader impacts of individual decisions are overlooked. To overcome these limitations, this paper explores the design and implementation of a Serious Game (SG) aimed at coproducing a watershed management plan at the basin scale within the specific context of the Campoalegre River basin in Colombia. By providing an interactive platform, the SG facilitates collaboration between local actors, who may be unfamiliar with existing watershed plans, and decision-makers. The goal is to create a participatory space where stakeholders can comprehend the watershed management plan structure and prioritize actions based on various climatic, social, and economic conditions. Following the application of the SG, stakeholders demonstrated an improved understanding of the basin, fostering increased participation, open debate, and the proposal of actions. These outcomes serve as valuable inputs for the implementation of water management planning policies, showcasing the potential of SGs in bridging knowledge gaps, and fostering effective multi-stakeholder engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a conceptual framework proposal for integrating urban freight initiatives (UFIs), or city logistics initiatives, into urban planning and urban management (UPUM) land use and infrastructure systems. As a novel approach, this framework integrates three components: Firstly, a conceptual basis on three economic geography theory principles—location, agglomeration, and urbanisation. Secondly, spatial analysis and subsequent clustering integrate companies' spatial positions, their proximity to other companies, their freight intensity, and the characteristics of the zonal road infrastructure; these clusters are defined as freight traffic zones (FTZs). Thirdly, a functional yet strategic UFI clustering or grouping is proposed to work in an optimised and integrated manner with the FTZs' opportunities for efficiency and reduced externalities. It is expected that the integrated result of these three components can serve to optimise freight initiatives and road infrastructure from a city governance perspective, reduce freight externalities, and function as a stakeholder cooperation tool from government-led, policy-driven perspectives. This research also identifies and characterises various variables influencing the emergence and existence (planned or organic) of FTZs and shows how these could be incorporated into high-level UPUM processes. Although it is deemed that the principles and methodological approach followed here could be common to urban areas, an example for the Metropolitan Area of the Aburra Valley (MAAV), in Colombia, is presented as an initial case study. Conclusively, this paper introduces a pioneering methodology for integrating UFIs into city or metropolitan governance, offering guidance for policymakers to promote sustainable freight systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The páramos of Boyacá in Colombia are earmarked for delimitation to prevent the expansion of the agricultural frontier and protect endemic flora that contribute to water provision for cities. A varied conservation toolbox will be used, including the creation of protected areas for re-wilding and the 'sustainable' transitioning of livelihoods identified as environmentally destructive. Agriculture and cattle livestock farming has been identified for transitioning. Despite the negative discourse related to livestock holding, this paper argues that small-scale agropastoralism contributes to re-peasantisation and provides the foundations for an agrobiodiverse conservation approach. Agropastoralism facilitates re-peasantisation through strong socio-economic networks, interconnected communities, the solidarity economy, and self-management of natural resources. Whilst, agropastoral mobility spatially binds social networks across large and disconnected spaces. Mobility is also fundamental to dynamic land access and pasture management, as it prevents over-grazing. This exemplifies how resilient socio-economic networks and mobile production strategies could be harnessed for agrobiodiversity, instead of land sparing and other sedentary 'green' economies. This paper makes conceptual contributions to 'autonomy' in re-peasantisation by empirically demonstrating the importance of mobile and flexible systems of production. It also makes a novel methodological contribution in applying a spatial lens that further unpacks how movement across the páramos facilitates autonomy and re-peasantisation. These themes are explored using interview data from 53 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and small-scale agropastoralists from across the páramos and field observation. The paper concludes by recommending a harnessing of agropastoral knowledge, to potentiate agrobiodiversity, for a more socio-ecologically just approach to farming and conservation in the páramos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]