“Between Confidence and Arms”. Local Justice in Ecuador from the Old Regime to Liberalism

El ensayo aborda el tema de la administración de justicia, especialmente de la justicia local, en el Ecuador entre Antiguo Régimen y liberalismo. Afirma que los problemas de la justicia sufridos por los ciudadanos durante las primeras décadas republicanas fueron el resultado de tres factores: 1) el papel de los cabildos coloniales americanos como instituciones a la vez judiciales y de gobierno; 2) los caracteres del liberalismo gaditano -e hispánico más en general- que no cambia la idea de justicia y que además confirma la naturaleza judicial de los municipios contribuyendo a su multiplicación en el territorio; 3) el papel de las guerras y la transformación de muchos jueces locales en milicianos. Así, de un modelo basado en la confianza en las calidades de las personas se pasa a otro basado en las armas.This essay deals with the administration of justice, and especially local justice, in Ecuador between the Old Regime and Liberalism. It claims that the judicial problems suffered by citizens during the first republican decades were the consequence of three major factors: 1) the role of colonial municipalities as legal and governmental institutions at the same time; 2) the character of Cadiz liberalism –and more generally Hispanic liberalism–, which did not change the idea of justice, confirming the legal nature of municipalities and furthermore increasing their number in the territory; 3) the role of the wars of independence and the transformation of many local judges into militiamen. Thus, from a model based on confidence in personal qualities, local justice changed toward a model based on arms

Additive Manufacturing of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)/poly(ε-caprolactone) Blend Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering

Additive manufacturing of scaffolds made of a polyhydroxyalkanoate blended with another biocompatible polymer represents a cost-effective strategy for combining the advantages of the two blend components in order to develop tailored tissue engineering approaches. The aim of this study was the development of novel poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)/ poly("-caprolactone) (PHBHHx/PCL) blend scaffolds for tissue engineering by means of computer-aided wet-spinning, a hybrid additive manufacturing technique suitable for processing polyhydroxyalkanoates dissolved in organic solvents. The experimental conditions for processing tetrahydrofuran solutions containing the two polymers at different concentrations (PHBHHx/PCL weight ratio of 3:1, 2:1 or 1:1) were optimized in order to manufacture scaffolds with predefined geometry and internal porous architecture. PHBHHx/PCL scaffolds with a 3D interconnected network of macropores and a local microporosity of the polymeric matrix, as a consequence of the phase inversion process governing material solidification, were successfully fabricated. As shown by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric, differential scanning calorimetric and uniaxial compressive analyses, blend composition significantly influenced the scaffold morphological, thermal and mechanical properties. In vitro biological characterization showed that the developed scaffolds were able to sustain the adhesion and proliferation of MC3T3-E1 murine preosteoblast cells. The additive manufacturing approach developed in this study, based on a polymeric solution processing method avoiding possible material degradation related to thermal treatments, could represent a powerful tool for the development of customized PHBHHx-based blend scaffolds for tissue engineering

En los confines de la soberanía. Esmeraldas, siglos XVI-XIX

El artículo analiza los mecanismos de integración de una sociedad de frontera – Esmeraldas, provincia noroccidental del actual Ecuador - al espacio colonial y luego nacional. Estudia la territorialización de ese espacio y sus características como región de frontera, explora la persistencia de la articulación a la Audiencia de Quito y luego a Ecuador, y resalta los acuerdos y negociaciones entre las autoridades estatales y los grupos locales. &nbsp