El Poder de los Gobernadores. Conceptualización y Análisis Comparado de Argentina y Brasil

Los gobernadores son actores políticos relevantes en la mayoría de las democracias federales e incluso en algunos países unitarios. A pesar de esto, todavía tenemos una limitada comprensión conceptual y aún más escasas medidas para comparar su poder. Discuto la literatura de Estados Unidos y comparada sobre el poder de los gobernadores, ajusto una definición para examinar tendencias recientes en el poder de los gobernadores en Argentina y Brasil, y descubro una fuerte variación entre los dos casos a lo largo del tiempo. Utilizando datos originales, también proporciono evidencia empírica sobre los determinantes del poder de los gobernadores relacionados con el uso diferenciado de fondos públicos. Sostengo que la estabilidad del poder de los gobernadores en Argentina está asociada con el uso del empleo público para conseguir apoyo político, que es relativamente estable en el tiempo. En Brasil, este intercambio es más inestable y fundamentalmente basado en la inversión social.Fil: Gonzalez, Lucas Isaac. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Escuela de Política y Gobierno; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Políticas y de la Comunicación. Instituto de Ciencias Políticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Federal transfers, interregional inequality and redistribution in Latin America

Esta investigación analiza el impacto de las transferencias federales y del gasto subnacional en el desarrollo humano y la equidad interregional. Los datos de transferencias y gasto subnacional en Argentina, Brasil, México, Chile y Colombia, entre 1983-2011, indican que el poder redistributivo del gobierno central está asociado con mejoras en la equidad interregional, pero no con mejores valores de desarrollo humano, exactamente al contrario de lo que sucede con el gasto social subnacional.This work analyzes the impact of federal transfers and subnational expenditure in human development and interregional equity. Data on federal transfers and subnational spending in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia, between 1983 and 2011, indicate that the redistributive power of the central government is statistically associated with improvements in interregional equity but not with better values in the human development index. Exactly the opposite results are found for subnational social spending.Fil: Gonzalez, Lucas Isaac. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Escuela de Política y Gobierno; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Políticas y de la Comunicación. Instituto de Ciencias Políticas; Argentin

Oxygenated fuels properties and its relationship with engine performance in port fuel injection engines

[EN] Gasoline oxygenating agents (alcohols, ethers and a carbonate) were used to formulate gasoline at different oxygen contents up to 20 wt.% and compared with commercial Premium gasoline. The performance of each fuel was investigated in a port fuel injected, single cylinder, spark-ignited engine at different stages i.e. air fuel mixture preparation, combustion behavior and exhaust emissions. In all cases, the intake cooling effect (related mainly to fuel properties like latent heat of vaporization and Reid Vapor Pressure), shows an important relationship with engine performance and emissions, probably due to reductions in heat losses associated with decreases in charge temperature at compression stroke before ignition. This results was confirmed by means of vehicle FTP-75 test. The high RVP promotes high intake manifold evaporation rate, and the high HoV is related to important cooling effect as the fuel absorbs heat during evaporation. If the fuel evaporates faster upstream intake valves, the advantages of high HoV as a way to reduce compression work and heat transfer fallen. The quantification of the charge cooling effect was done by means of precision intake air temperature control and the instrumentation of a temperature downstream the injector at intake port and as close as possible to the intake valves. The use of oxygenates reduce the hydrogen and carbon fuel contents as a result of fuel dilution. For a given level of oxygenation as lower is the molecular oxygen content in the additive, higher will be the fuel dilution. For 10 wt.% oxygen and more, fuel performance in port engines depends mainly on oxygenate contents and its relationship with HoV and RVP. For oxygenated gasolines, fuel sensitivity have a direct relationship with latent heat of vaporization, because charge cooling is one of the way alcohols increase RON. In the other hand, MON is almost insensible to high heat of vaporization, because the intake air is heated to 159 C as a test requirement.Gonzalez, U.; Schifter, I. (2017). Oxygenated fuels properties and its relationship with engine performance in port fuel injection engines. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 345-353. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4855OCS34535

Constitutional state and governance: platform for a democratic openness of public policies in Mexico

Se da por hecho que un Estado es “constitucional”, porque tiene uncuerpo normativo que establece la estructura de gobierno, que reconocecomo objetivo primordial los derechos humanos y que expresamecanismos de control del poder a favor del pueblo. Sin embargo, sinun entramado democrático, las normas no garantizan que sus fines secumplan. México ha tenido diversas reformas constitucionales que nohan logrado cumplir su cometido. En este contexto, el trabajo alude quela crisis institucional, económica y de derechos humanos en México no sesolucionará con reformas, sino mediante una reorientación de los actoresimplicados en los sectores políticos, administrativos y de administraciónde justicia. Asimismo, como aporte, el artículo propone nuevas líneas deacción para mejorar la gobernanza con bases y objetivos participativos;que hagan realidad las disposiciones jurídicas, económicas y políticasde la Constitución.CONACYT (CB/156846

Who Distributes? Presidents, Congress, Governors, and the Politics of Distribution in Argentina and Brazil

What is the role of presidents in the politics of distribution in developing democracies? To what extent do other political actors, such as legislators and governors, influence federal distribution? This paper studies the main factors that affect distributive politics in Argentina and Brazil, two highly unequal presidential federations in Latin America. The focus is on funds with high redistributive impact and over which the central government has large discretion: those for public infrastructure. Using original data on federal infrastructure spending for the 24 provinces in Argentina and the 27 states in Brazil for the period 1999-2011, we show that the distribution of infrastructure funds is fundamentally determined by executive politics. Despite this, our empirical findings indicate there is large variation between the two cases in the relevance of the partisan links between presidents and governors and the influence of congress and its committees. Furthermore, we observe that elections are not relevant in explaining distribution in either of the two cases and that presidents are mostly motivated by political considerations and that programmatic factors, such as equity and efficiency criteria, play a secondary role, especially in Argentina. We discuss some possible reasons for these results and their implications for the broader comparative debate on distributive politics.Fil: Gonzalez, Lucas Isaac. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Escuela de Política y Gobierno; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Políticas y de la Comunicación. Instituto de Ciencias Políticas; ArgentinaFil: Mamone, Miguel Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Políticas y de la Comunicación. Instituto de Ciencias Políticas; Argentin

A Federated Computational Workflow for Analysis of DISKOS Digital Palynological Slides

A novel federated computational workflow for analyzing digital palynological slide images is implemented in this thesis. The slide data files, typically exceeding 3GB, present significant data mobility and computation challenges. The novel distributed computational framework is implemented to address privacy concerns and the challenges associated with moving large data. The idea is to move computational to the data location, optimally utilizing local computational capacity and reducing data movement. Trained deep-learning models deployed in a containerized environment leveraging the Docker technology are integrated in the workflow with a user-friendly interface, and users can run processes with the trained models. The workflow processes include reading slide image files, generating tiled images, and identifying and removing undesirable tiles such as blank tiles. Object detection with the watershed segmentation algorithm identifies tiles with potential microfossils. The identified dinoflagellates are classified with a trained convolution neural network (CNN) model. The classification results are sent to the host and shared with the users. The federated computational approach effectively addresses the challenges related to moving and handling large palynological slide images, creating a more efficient, scalable, and distributed pipeline. Collaborative efforts involving domain experts for model training with more annotated slide images will improve the effectiveness of the workflow

A Federated Computational Workflow for Analysis of DISKOS Digital Palynological Slides.

A novel federated computational workflow for analyzing digital palynological slide images is implemented in this thesis. The slide data files, typically exceeding 3GB, present significant data mobility and computation challenges. The novel distributed computational framework is implemented to address privacy concerns and the challenges associated with moving large data. The idea is to move computational to the data location, optimally utilizing local computational capacity and reducing data movement. Trained deep-learning models deployed in a containerized environment leveraging the Docker technology are integrated in the workflow with a user-friendly interface, and users can run processes with the trained models.\\ The workflow processes include reading slide image files, generating tiled images, and identifying and removing undesirable tiles such as blank tiles. Object detection with the watershed segmentation algorithm identifies tiles with potential microfossils. The identified dinoflagellates are classified with a trained convolution neural network (CNN) model. The classification results are sent to the host and shared with the users. The federated computational approach effectively addresses the challenges related to moving and handling large palynological slide images, creating a more efficient, scalable, and distributed pipeline. Collaborative efforts involving domain experts for model training with more annotated slide images will improve the effectiveness of the workflow

Electoral cycle, presidential popularity, and the distribution of federal funds in Argentina

Este artículo estudia cuáles son los principales factores que influyen en la asignación de fondos federales a las provincias en Argentina entre 1999 y 2009. La contribución principal es que incorpora el ciclo electoral junto con la popularidad presidencial en el análisis. El argumento principal es que en los años electorales, los presidentes tienden a distribuir más fondos a las provincias más grandes y más pobladas (llamo a esto distribución electoral). En ellas está la mayor cantidad de votantes. Pero en años no electorales, los presidentes distribuyen a las provincias del interior, menos pobladas, menos ricas, pero más sobrerrepresentadas. Esto es clave para asegurar apoyo legislativo y gobernabilidad (llamo a esto distribución de gobierno). Los clivajes estructurales entre provincias ricas y pobres también se articulan con la popularidad presidencial para influir en la distribución de fondos federales. Los presidentes electoralmente fuertes y con apoyo en la opinión pública tienden a aumentar las transferencias a los distritos más pobres y a reducir fondos a los distritos más ricos. Invertir en las provincias más pobres es más eficiente, los gobernadores de estos distritos tienden a apoyar a los presidentes redistributivos y además son rivales políticos más débiles que los gobernadores de los distritos más grandes y ricos. Por el contrario, los presidentes más débiles y con menos apoyo en la opinión pública tienen menos capacidad de resistir las presiones de los gobernadores de los distritos más grandes y ricos. El artículo discute estos resultados, los compara con los de argumentos competitivos (vinculados al rol de las alianzas partidarias, del Congreso y de factores programáticos) y explora las implicancias para el debate comparativo.This article analyzes the determinants of the distribution of non-earmarked federal funds to the Argentine provinces between 1999 and 2009. The main contribution is that it brings the electoral cycle together with presidential popularity into the analysis. The main argument is that during election years, presidents tend to distribute more funds to the largest and most populated provinces (I call this electoral distribution). These districts have the largest number of voters. But in non-election years, presidents distribute to less populated, poorer, but overrepresented developing provinces. This is crucial to ensure legislative support (I call this governing distribution). Structural cleavages between rich and poor provinces also overlap with the president’s popularity to influence the distribution of federal funds. Electorally strong and popular presidents tend to increase transfers to developing districts and reduce allocations to richer districts. Investing in developing provinces is more efficient, governors from these districts tend to support redistributive presidents, and they are weaker political challengers than governors from richer districts. In contrast, weaker presidents are less capable of resisting pressures from governors from larger and richer districts. This article discusses the main findings, compares them with alternative claims (related to the role of partisan alliances, Congress, and programmatic factors), and explores some implications for the comparative debate.Fil: Gonzalez, Lucas Isaac. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Escuela de Política y Gobierno; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Theory, Method and Commitment: Some Reflections on the Legacy of Guillermo O’Donnell

Este artículo resalta algunas contribuciones de O´Donnell para la disciplina en general y para los estudiantes de ciencia política en particular. Entre ellas, destaca la necesidad de focalizar las preguntas de nuestras investigaciones en problemas sustantivos, relevantes; la centralidad de la teoría para responder a ellas y para comprender un caso o pocos casos; y el rol de las herramientas, que no deben determinar las preguntas ni las respuestas, sino que deben ser  elementos que ayuden a llegar a ellas.This article highlights some of O’Donnell’s contributions to the discipline, in general, and to political science students, in particular. Among them, it stresses the need to focus on substantive and relevant research questions, the centrality of theory to answer them and to understand a case or a few cases, and the role of tools in political science, which should not determine our questions or answers, but are elements that should help us getting them.Fil: Gonzalez, Lucas Isaac. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Escuela de Política y Gobierno; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Políticas y de la Comunicación. Instituto de Ciencias Políticas; Argentin