Development in Chile 1990-2005: Lessons from a Positive Experience

growth, competitiveness, poverty, inequality, institutions, democratic governance

DISEÑO DE HERRAMIENTA HIDROLÓGICA COMO APOYO A LOS SISTEMAS DE ALERTA TEMPRANA ANTE INUNDACIONES

Las inundaciones son uno de los fenómenos naturales que se presenta con mayor frecuencia alrededor del mundo afectando a gran número de personas y causando cuantiosos daños. México no es la excepción pues, dada su ubicación geográfica, cada año se ve afectado por fenómenos meteorológicos que afectan gran parte de su territorio. Como consecuencia, las inundaciones son uno de los desastres naturales que más afectan a su población. Por tal razón, la preparación ante estos desastres naturales es esencial para una respuesta oportuna que permita salvaguardar vidas humanas y bienes materiales, además de la rápida recuperación por parte de la población afectada y las autoridades. Es en este sentido que la presente investigación tiene como objetivo la implementación de una herramienta hidrológica que sirva de apoyo para la construcción de sistemas de alerta temprana ante inundaciones, mediante el acoplamiento y automatización de paquetes informáticos de aplicación hidrológica, hidráulica y sistemas de información geográfica. La implementación de herramientas hidrológicas incluyó dos modelos lluvia-escurrimiento, HEC-HMS Y CEQUEAU. Modelos ampliamente conocidos y utilizados, cuyas capacidades ya han sido demostradas en numerosas investigaciones, además de la implementación de un modelo de hidrograma unitario espacialmente distribuido. La parte hidráulica incluyó la implementación del modelo HEC-RAS para la modelación del tránsito de avenidas producto de las modelaciones hidrológicas. Las pruebas se desarrollaron en la cuenca del río La Sierra (Chiapas-Tabasco). La aplicación de los desarrollos productos de esta investigación demuestra la factibilidad de acoplar herramientas hidrológicas e hidráulicas con un sistema de información geográfica para la evaluación de riesgos por inundación, monitoreo de indicadores como precipitación y la predicción del comportamiento hidrológico e hidráulico de una cuenca con base en la modelación matemática

THE ROLE OF GLOBAL RISK AVERSION IN EXPLAINING LATIN AMERICAN SOVEREIGN SPREADS

This paper explores the role of global risk aversion (GRA) and its main determinants, US economic growth and the US government bond yield, in explaining developments in Latin American sovereign spreads. We find that GRA is significant and positively related to Latin American sovereign spreads and that its impact varies across countries and over time. Those countries with the lowest risk, such as Chile, are more affected by GRA. Its relevance has also risen over time, particularly since the sharp change in the perception of risk stemming from the Enron scandal. Finally, an increase in both US economic growth and the US government bond yield are found to reduce sovereign spreads in most Latin American countries, while the opposite is true for US short-term interest rates.GLOBAL RISK AVERSION, SOVEREIGN SPREADS,LATIN AMERICA

THE ROLE OF GLOBAL RISK AVERSION IN EXPLAINING LATIN AMERICAN SOVEREIGN SPREADS

This paper assesses empirically whether global risk aversion (GRA) and some if its determinants (US economic growth and the US long term interest rates) explain developments in Latin American sovereign spreads. We find that GRA is significant and positively related to Latin American sovereign spreads and that its impact varies across countries and over time. Chile, with a lower sovereign risk, is relatively more affected. The opposite is true for Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela. In addition, the influence of GRA on spreads has risen since the Enron scandal. Finally, both an increase in US economic growth and US long term interest rates are found to reduce spreads while the opposite is true for US short-term interest rates.global risk aversion, sovereign spreads, Latin America

Dealing with Heat Stress in Dairy Cows

Alleviating heat stress is critical to milk production. Heat stress from high environmental temperatures can be compounded by mistakes in managing and feeding the cows. Water is your first concern during periods of high temperatures. Water physical properties—heat conductivity and latent heat of vaporization—help transfer heat from the body of the animal to the environment

Effect of posttranslational modification on the Na+, K+ ATPase kinetics

The Na+, K+ ATPase is an essential membrane protein in eukaryotic cells, which transports Na+ out of the cell in exchange for K+ into the cell. For this transport it hydrolyses one molecule of ATP for each cycle. The partial reactions of the ATPase cycle and the effects of posttranslational modifications on ATPase activity have been studied extensively. However, amalgamation of the reported rate constants for the partial reactions along with the effect of posttranslational modifications have never been attempted. We have designed a simplified four-state mathematical model of the Na+, K+ ATPase using published results for the partial reactions. We have incorporated the effect of the Na+ allosteric site and poise dependent glutathionylation and attempted to replicate K+ activated transient currents reported in voltage clamped cardiomyocytes. Our voltage clamped cardiomyocyte results indicate the K+ activated transient is an effect of poise dependent glutathionylation rather than the Na+ subsarcolemmal space. These results can be replicated to some extent by the proposed kinetic model. This is the first kinetic model of the Na+, K+ ATPase that incorporates both partial rate constants and a reported posttranslational modification which is able to reproduce voltage clamped cardiomyocyte data