The Evolution of Stellar Populations

We summarize the discussion section on ``Evolution of Stellar Populations'' we led on May 27, 2000 in Granada, Spain, as part of the Euroconference on The Evolution of Galaxies. I- Observational Clues. We also provide a partial comparison between the present knowledge of these topics and that which existed at the time of the Crete Conference of 1995.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, To appear in Proceedings of First Euroconference "The Evolution of Galaxies. I-Observational Clues" (Astrophys. & Sp. Sc., Vilchez, Stasinska, and Perez, eds. Kluwer

The transformation of the medical ethos and the birth of bioethics in Colombia. A Foucauldian approach

In the late 1960s and early 1970s bioethics was born in the USA and rapidly spread across the world. Bioethicists have traditionally argued that their discipline was the answer to the ethical challenges posed by the scientific and technological progress in biomedicine, although others have emphasised the abuses committed in biomedical human research and the dehumanisation of medicine. Notwithstanding the great excitement produced by the rise of the new field, its foundations, scope, and official historical accounts have been criticised. Calls to give bioethics better philosophical foundations –beyond the American principlism- and to broaden the field, particularly to include problems typical of the developing world such as poverty, exploitation and inequality have grown in the last twenty years. In Colombia, the idea that bioethics is an advocate of life, a discipline to protect life on earth from the dangers of an irresponsible scientific and technological advance as well as from a wrong model of development has been promoted by the Colombian bioethical establishment. Drawing on the Foucauldian view on power and knowledge, this thesis analyses the connections between the flourishing of bioethics in Colombia and the implementation of a neoliberal healthcare system in the 1990s. The historiographies and hagiographies that have dominated the official history of bioethics in Colombia are criticised and, instead, a historical approach is offered. The central argument is that bioethics, and other discourses of surveillance of medical practice such as medical liability are part of the governmentalization of the Colombian medical ethos, and that bioethics has become a totalising, all-embracing field, constituting a form of power exercise over the biomedical scenario. Complementing the analysis, information from 27 semi-structured interviews is provided. Chapter one, the introductory chapter, discusses medicine as a contemporary cultural phenomenon and the birth of bioethics in the USA, while chapter two describes the elements of the Foucauldian toolkit that I use in the analysis. Chapters three and four critically approach the arrival and development of bioethics in Latin America and Colombia. Chapter five discusses the transformation of the Colombian medical ethos, describing the political transformation of the country in the 1990s and the healthcare reform. Chapters six and seven examine the discourses and practices around medical ethics in Colombia as well as how bioethics, medical practice, medical liability and biopolitically relevant legal decisions in the context of the new constitutional reality of the country became intertwined discourses

Female Leadership Values in Mexican Graduate Students

The present study addresses the gender gap in leadership roles in Mexico through the lens of three leadership constructs. The objective was to compare female and male individual cultural values to explain differences in leadership style and agentic behavior. The sample consisted of 185 graduate students in Baja California, Mexico. Participants were surveyed using the Short Schwartz Value Scale. The responses were analyzed by running independent samples t-tests. The results suggest that males attribute greater importance to Power and Achievement values, which are associated with transformational and transactional leadership constructs. No differences were found across several values associated with other transformational, transactional, and transformative leadership constructs. The implication is that aspiring female leaders should embrace agentic behaviors in pursuit of ambitious goals along with seeking to create democratic and just workplaces. This study is novel because it uses individual cultural values as leadership variables, an approach that is seldom employed, but worth exploring

Entrepreneurial Competencies in Graduate Students from Mexico: A Gender Perspective

Mexico faces a gender gap in opportunity entrepreneurship. Part of the problem is the masculine approach to business education in graduate programs. This research uses data from 173 female and male graduate students to compare self-efficacy levels in entrepreneurship and leadership. The data were collected under a cross-sectional, survey research design. Findings suggest that there were no statistically significant differences between females and males in five entrepreneurship and two leadership dimensions. Statistically significant differences were identified in one entrepreneurship dimension: initiating relationships with investors. A key takeaway is that females undervalue their ability to secure funds for entrepreneurial purposes

El rol del capital social en los procesos de desarrollo local. Límites y alcance en grupos indígenas

Hay una idea, promovida por los organismos internacionales y el Estado, en torno a que el capital social contribuirá al fortalecimiento de la democracia, a la equidad, a la cultura de participación y, consiguientemente, al desarrollo. No obstante, es necesario detenernos en lanoción de capital social indígena, que pasa por tres elementos: a) la capacidad para sobrevivir económica y culturalmente; b) la posibilidad de conformar organización, mecanismos de lucha, resistencia y ajuste a una sociedad y a un proyecto nacional, en medio de una relación de subordinación y vulnerabilidad alta, y c) los efectos que las estructuras hegemónicas tienen en el debilitamiento del capital social indígena y su transformación en nuevas expresiones de capital social o incluso en su pérdida y ausencia

IMPROVING THE ENDURANCE OF SMALL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES UTILIZING FLEXIBLE SOLAR CELLS

Though studies and experimentation have been done regarding solar UAVs, it appears that these studies have been primarily focused on the development of futuristic prototypes or proof-of-concept vehicles used under very controlled conditions and without regard to extensive practical applications. On the other hand, in this research we seek to examine the flying endurance benefits that may be achieved by equipping the Nimbus Pro VTOL small unmanned aerial aircraft with commercially available thin film photovoltaic cells. Typical miniature and micro UAVs that run on battery power have an endurance of thirty minutes to two hours, after which time they need to be retrieved so that the batteries can be recharged, or so that another single-use battery can be installed. The retrieve-prepare-relaunch cycle can be greater than the on-station time for the UAV, and greatly reduces the utility of these systems to the intelligence gatherer or war fighter. The focus of this research is to determine the estimation of the power consumption of the Nimbus Pro VTOL and the power generated from an array of solar cells installed on the wing of the aircraft. With that information, we can approximate the additional flight time gained by the installation of the solar array.LTJG, Peruvian NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited