Síntesis histórica de los cambios ocurridos en el Índice de Desarrollo Humano en Venezuela entre 1936 y 1945

El presente trabajo es el resultado de una investigación histórica donde, a partir del análisis de documentos producidos por organismos oficiales, protagonistas y estudiosos del período seleccionado, se pretendió como objetivo central identificar algunos de los principales cambios ocurridos en ciertos indicadores del índice de desarrollo humano en Venezuela entre 1936 y 1945, y relacionar éstos con la acción ejecutada por los gobiernos de Eleazar López Contreras e Isaías Medina Angarita, concretamente en materia de salud y educación. Las principales conclusiones de la investigación apuntan a señalar lo siguiente: las transformaciones del índice de desarrollo humano del venezolano promedio fueron evidentemente significativas, al punto de representar el inicio del tránsito de una sociedad pre-moderna a una sociedad asentada en indicadores propios de la modernidad. Este escrito es el aporte hecho por el autor a la realización del proyecto de investigación colectivo desarrollado en el Doctorado en Historia de la Universidad Católica “Andrés Bello”, en la cátedra Historia Económica y Social, durante el período marzo - julio 2001.Palabras clave: Venezuela; índice de desarrollo humano; Eleazar López Contreras; Isaías Medina Angarita. A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE CHANGES IN THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX IN VENEZUELA FROM 1936 TO 1945ABSTRACTThis paper is the outcome of historical research based on examination of documents produced by government agencies, active participants, and scholars of the period in question. The core objective was to identify some of the principal changes in certain indictors of the human development index in Venezuela between 1936 and 1945, and relate these changes with the actions in the health and education areas taken by the administrations of Presidents Eleazar López Contreras and Isaías Medina Angarita. The key conclusion from the research is the finding that the human development index for Venezuelans underwent a very significant change, reflecting the country's shift from a pre-modern society to one whose indicators are those associated with modernity. This paper is the author's contribution to the collective research project undertaken by the Economic and Social History Course of the Doctoral Program in History at Andrés Bello Catholic University during the March – July 2001 term.Keywords: Venezuela; human development index; Eleazar López Contreras and Isaías Medina Angarita governments.

MAHMI database: a comprehensive MetaHit-based resource for the study of the mechanism of action of the human microbiota

The Mechanism of Action of the Human Microbiome (MAHMI) database is a unique resource that provides comprehensive information about the sequence of potential immunomodulatory and antiproliferative peptides encrypted in the proteins produced by the human gut microbiota. Currently, MAHMI database contains over 300 hundred million peptide entries, with detailed information about peptide sequence, sources and potential bioactivity. The reference peptide data section is curated manually by domain experts. The in silico peptide data section is populated automatically through the systematic processing of publicly available exoproteomes of the human microbiome. Bioactivity prediction is based on the global alignment of the automatically processed peptides with experimentally validated immunomodulatory and antiproliferative peptides, in the reference section. MAHMI provides researchers with a comparative tool for inspecting the potential immunomodulatory or antiproliferative bioactivity of new amino acidic sequences and identifying promising peptides to be further investigated. Moreover, researchers are welcome to submit new experimental evidence on peptide bioactivity, namely, empiric and structural data, as a proactive, expert means to keep the database updated and improve the implemented bioactivity prediction method. Bioactive peptides identified by MAHMI have a huge biotechnological potential, including the manipulation of aberrant immune responses and the design of new functional ingredients/foods based on the genetic sequences of the human microbiome. Hopefully, the resources provided by MAHMI will be useful to those researching gastrointestinal disorders of autoimmune and inflammatory nature, such as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. MAHMI database is routinely updated and is available free of charge.This work was funded by the Grant AGL2013-44039-R from the Spanish “Plan Estatal de IþDþI”, and the Grant EM2014/046 from the “Plan Galego de investigaci on, innovaci on e crecemento 2011-2015”. Borja S anchez was recipient of a Ram on y Cajal postdoctoral contract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. This work was also partially funded by the [14VI05] ContractProgramme from the University of Vigo and the Agrupamento INBIOMED from DXPCTSUG-FEDER unha maneira de facer Europa (2012/273) and the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/REGPOT-2012-2013.1 under grant agreement n 316265, BIOCAPS. This document reflects only the author’s views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein

Hugo Chávez: una década en el poder

Una década de Hugo Chávez Frías y su proyecto político en Venezuela trajo consigo un cambio de paradigmas que llama la atención de la sociedad en general. Este libro es el resultado del esfuerzo conjunto de un grupo de académicos de distintas nacionalidades que desde sus líneas de investigación realizan análisis que le brindan al lector elementos para comprender de manera global lo que significa una década de gobierno del Presidente Chávez en Venezuela.Este libro es el resultado del esfuerzo conjunto de un grupo de académicos de distintas nacionalidades que desde sus líneas de investigación realizan análisis que le brindan al lector elementos para comprender de manera global lo que significa una década de gobierno del Presidente Chávez en Venezuela

Deliberative mechanisms in the National Constitutional Assembly: the symbolic polarization of land reform

Na escrita de uma constituição é normativamente desejável o uso da razão e da imparcialidade na condução das deliberações constituintes. A capacidade dos constituintes de deliberar por meio de argumentos imparciais pode ser, todavia, influenciada por condições empiricamente não favoráveis. O caso da reforma agrária na Assembleia Nacional Constituinte brasileira de 1987-1988 oferece a possibilidade de verificar que, sob condições de forte pressão dos grupos de interesse e do valor simbólico da questão, o número de constituintes chamados a deliberar e votar é relacionado com a radicalização e polarização da questão. Se por um lado, o número menor de constituintes é mais vulnerável à pressão dos interesses e da narrativa simbólica, por outro, o número maior facilita a ação dos partidos, por meio das lideranças, como agentes de agregação das preferências e permite assim maiores possibilidades de mediar os interesses e convergir para uma solução consensual.In the constitution-making process it is desirable that the constitutional representatives could deliberate with impartiality and the use of reason. The capacity of the constitutional representative to deliberate trough impartial arguments can be, nevertheless, influenced by empirical conditions not favorable to the process of consensus making. The case-study of the land reform in the Brazilian National Constitutional Assembly of 1987-1988 offers the chance to verify the hypothesis that, under the conditions of pressures by the interests groups and symbolization of the constitutional policy, the number of representatives affects the mechanisms of radicalization of preferences and behaviors. If on one side a reduced number of representatives facilitate the exposition to the pressure of radicalized interests groups and symbolization, on the other hand the increased number allows for more effectiveness of political parties as preferences aggregation agents . This means more chances of mediation and convergence to a shared solution

El Impacto de las Relaciones Patrón - Clientela en la Estructura Política Venezolana.

La constante Relaciones Patrón - Clientela, en sus distintas modalidades de manifestación, ha signado el acontecer político nacional desde el advenimiento de la época republicana.  En los albores del siglo XXI es posible constatar su presencia.  Abordar el tema, desde la perspectiva histórica, propicia la consecución de los siguientes objetivos:  i)desentrañar el génesis de los mecanismos a través de los cuales el fenómeno ha operado y aún opera en el tejido sociopolítico venezolano; y, ii)aportar elementos de comprensión del funcionamiento de la estructura política vigente en Venezuela contemporánea.  La reflexión académica dirigida a cubrir ambos aspectos, es el hilo conductor del presente trabajo