A geography of illicit crops (coca leaf) and armed conflict in Colombia

Colombia is currently the world’s largest producer of coca leaf and the principal producer of opium poppies in the Americas; the plants are the basic raw materials used to produce cocaine and heroin. This document analyses the current relationship between these crops and illegal armed groups in Colombia, using the hypothesis that the geographical intensification of the conflict is the principal cause of expanding illicit crop production. This relationship was analysed using a theoretical model, in which an interaction between illegal armed activity and strategic territorial control lead to cocaine production. Spatial analysis techniques were then applied, especially spatial association indicators; and a clear spatial dynamic was observed, related to the two aspects mentioned above. Non-parametric exercises were also carried out using matching estimators, to determine the effect illegal armed groups have on coca crops, and also to analyse the efficiency of aerial eradication policies. The results suggest that a large percentage of coca production in Colombia is due to the effects of illegal armed activity. We therefore conclude that the expansion of illegal crop growing is a consequence of the expanding conflict. In contrast, coca crops can only be used to explain a small part of the armed conflict in Colombia. In addition, we found that crop eradication via aerial spraying has not been an efficient tool in the fight against coca production in the country

Editoriales Etno-iconográficos en Vogue (1948-2016): un enfoque a las diplomacias culturales

Este artículo ofrece la visión general de una investigación que ha sentado sus bases en una sistematización de los mensajes que surgen de la interfaz entre diferentes culturas a través de la comunicación visual de la moda. Profundiza en un estudio semántico de las composiciones relacionadas con la "etno-iconografía" desarrolladas por tres ediciones occidentales de Vogue desde 1948 a 2016. Para esta investigación, hemos examinado 100 editoriales fotográficos. El artículo propone un marco teórico que sirva para evaluar la forma en que la moda ha reflejado y construido las nociones coloniales del Otro, impulsadas por políticas visuales de género y raza, y moldeadas por ideologías imperialistas de la industria. El artículo también introduce una exploración del legado de los regímenes visuales eurocéntricos y la negociación con las subjetividades postcoloniales por parte de las últimas ediciones no occidentales. Finalmente resalta que este tipo de imagen puede proporcionar visibilidad a realidades sociales de dichos territorios, permitiendo a las revistas de moda actuar como detonadores de la reflexión crítica y agentes capaces de establecer interrelaciones culturales.This article offers an overview of a seminal research that laid its foundations in a systematization of the messages emerging from the interface between cultures through fashion image making. It delves into a semantic study of the compositions related to “ethno-iconography” that have been developed by three Western editions of Vogue since 1948 to 2016. We had examined 100 photographic editorials. The paper proposes a theoretical framework that serves to evaluate the way that fashion has reflected and built colonial notions of the Other, driven by race and gender visual politics, and shaped by the industry’s imperialist ideologies. The article also introduces a prospective exploration of the legacy of the Eurocentric visual regimes and the negotiation with post-colonial subjectivities by non-Western editions. It ultimately highlights that photo shoots also provide visibility to social realities that permit magazines to act as triggers of critical reflection and agents capable of establishing inter-cultural relations

Accounting for the U.S. Earnings and Wealth Inequality

Publicad

Infectivity decline of an RNA plant virus by increased mutagenesis supports the lethal defection model in vivo

Lethal mutagenesis is a new antiviral therapy based on increasing the mutation rate by using mutagenic base and nucleoside analogues whose molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Most of the research has been conducted on animal RNA viruses in cell culture and, to a lesser extent, in vivo. There is experimental evidence supporting the model of lethal defection for lethal mutagenesis of RNA viruses. In this model, viral genomes with a low degree of mutation and low specific infectivity, termed "defectors", exert an interfering activity leading to virus loss. Lethal mutagenesis of plant viruses has not been addressed yet despite being excellent in vivo model systems that develop systemic infections, undergo rapid bottlenecks and pose no ethical issues. Here, we address lethal mutagenesis in vivo of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a single-stranded positive RNA virus of 6.4 Kb. Nicotiana tabacum plants cultured in vitro were treated with 25, 50 and 100 µg/ml of the base analogue 5-fluorouracil (FU) and 24 h later were inoculated with 50 lesion forming units (lfu) of TMV. We analyzed the infectivity, viral load and mutant spectra of viral populations after 5 and 10 days of treatment, as well as of populations that went 10 days of treatment followed by 21 days of ex vitro growth in the absence of FU. The results show that TMV infectivity decreases when treated with 50 and 100 µg/ml FU for 10 days. TMV mutagenized populations grown without FU reach infectivity values higher than untreated populations. Predominant mutations in FU-treated populations with decreased infectivity at 10 dpi are U→C, A→G and G→A transitions, which are expected due to the action of FU. TMV replication is not affected by FU at any dose and there are no imbalances of ribonucleotide triphosphate pools measured by HPLC. No differences in mutation frequencies and Shannon Entropies between control and FU-treated populations with declined infectivity were found. However, we did found a dose-dependent decrease of specific infectivity in FU-treated populations, but not in untreated samples, as well as dominance of molecules with a low degree of mutation. Specific infectivity recovered to control levels after 21 days of growth without the analogue. Altogether, our results suggest that TMV defector molecules mediate the decrease in TMV infectivity. This is the first report that addresses the molecular basis of lethal defection in vivo using an RNA plant virus.Junta de Andalucía (P09-CVI-5428 y P10-CVI-6561), Plan Nacional I+D+i (BFU2007-65080 BMC) y Universidad de Málaga (Plan propio

Earnings and Wealth Inequality and Income Taxation: Quantifying the Trade-Offs of Switching to a Proportional Income Tax in the U.S. Ohio

This papaer quantifies the steady-state aggregate, distributinal and mobility effects of switching the U.S. to a proportional income tax system. As a perriquisite to the analysi, we propose a theory of earnings and wealth inequality capable of accounting quantitatively for the key aggregate and inequality facts of the U. S. economy. This theory is based on saving to smooth uninsured household-specific risk, for dynastic households that also have some life-cycle characteristics. A suitable calibration of our model economy replicates the U.S. growth facts, earnings and wealth distributions, the progressivity of the tax system and the size of the U.S. government. We also solve a similar model economy in which the government livies a proportional income tax to finance the same flow of government expenditures and public transfers. Our finding show that in this class of model worlds a switch from the U.S. tax system to a proporcional tax system implies the following trade-offs, i.) it increases efficiency as measured by aggregate output by 4,4%, ii. ) it increases inequality as measured by the Gini index of the wealth distribution by 10.4%, and iv.) it changes by little the mobility between the different earnings and wealth groups

Unemployment spells and income distribution dynamics

In the U.S., during the 1948-86 period, an approximation to the Gini Index based on the quintiles and on the top 5% of the income distribution yielded a value of 0.351. Further, during this same period, the income share earned by the first quintile was procyclical and 7% more volatile than aggregate yearly output. In this paper we quantify the role played by unemployment spells in determining these and other related issues. To this purpose, we use an extension of the general equilibrium stochastic growth model that includes an endogenous distribution of households indexed by wealth and employment status. Our main findings are the following: i) in a model economy where all households have the same endowments of skills and are subject to the same employment processes, uninsured unemployment spells alone account for a very small share of the concentration of income observed in the U.S., and of the income distribution dynamics -the approximated Gini Index in this model economy is 18% of the one observed in the U.S., and the income share earned by the first quintile is 58% more volatile, ii) this result is robust to including a technology that allows for cyclically moving factor shares, and iii) in a model economy where households are partitioned into different skills groups that are subject to different employment processes in accordance to U.S. data, unemployment spells account for a significantly greater share of the U.S. statistics -the approximated Gini Index in this model economy is 70% of the one observed in the U.S., and the income share earned by the first quintile is 10% more volatile

Necesidades de información en la empresa: la contabilidad

El propósito de este trabajo es explicar el porgué de la Contabilidad, haciendo una pequeña referencia a los antecedentes de esta ciencia. Conocer las unidades económicas a las que puede referirse y las principales características del entorno económico actual. Precisar quiénes son los usuarios de la información contable, y cuáles son sus necesidades de información. Finaliza el trabajo proporcionando una visión de conjunto de los principales sistemas de información contableThe intention of this work is to explain because of the Accounting, doing a small reference to the antecedents of this science. To know the economic units which can talk about and the main characteristics the present economic surroundings. To need who are the users of the countable information, and which are their necessities of information. A vision of set of the main countable information systems finalizes the work providin

Los hermeneutas de la noche

Obra ressenyada: Ricardo FORSTER ; Alberto SUCASAS (prólogo), Los hermeneutas de la noche. De Walter Benjamin a Paul CelanLos Hermeneutas de la noche, presentado con acierto por el filósofo español Juan Alberto Sucasas, consta de siete artículos que recorren parte del pensamiento contemporáneo occidental asumiendo el Holocausto como un evento constitutivo de su identidad. De forma manifiesta, el autor vincula su posicionamiento teórico (así como su metodología) a la Escuela de Frankfurt, sobre todo a la figura de Walter Benjamin. La presencia del filósofo alemán queda patente en todos los artículos del libro. En efecto, Benjamin y su trabajo parecen actuar como principio y fin del trabajo de Ricardo Forster y también como encrucijada de todo el pensamiento contemporáneo..