The United States and Colombia: The Journey from Ambiguity to Strategic Clarity

American strategy towards Colombia has shifted from a counternarcotics focus to more comprehensive support for that nation\u27s security. This shift recognizes that Colombia\u27s problems are deeply rooted and go beyond illegal narcotics. In the last year the Bush administration committed the United States to help Colombia defend democracy and to defeat the illegal armed groups of the left and right, doing so by promising to help that nation extend effective sovereignty over national territory and provide basic security to the people. The author identifies the strategic challenge of Colombia within the framework of the weak state and ungoverned space, made more complicated by the violence and corruption generated by the international organized criminals sustained by illegal drugs. He argues that the lessons learned in dealing with the security challenges that Colombia faces will have powerful consequences for the adaptation of American strategy to the conflict paradigm of the 21st century.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1793/thumbnail.jp

Haiti Strategy: Control, Legitimacy, Sovereignty, Rule of Law, Handoffs, and Exit

Now that the armed forces of the United States have entered Haiti, what is the exit strategy? As the United States, the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and the United Nations coalition establish order, it is best to be mindful of the tasks ahead: building a new authority system based on the rule of law, instilling respect for human rights, and developing those values common to democratic communities around the world. The two keys to the success of this strategy will be how Haiti handles the amnesty question and what kind of judicial and police system is developed. The United States should not allow its exit strategy to be determined by the success or failure of the above. In this paper, Professor Gabriel Marcella of the U.S. Army War College proposes an interlocking strategy that emphasizes the achievement of limited objectives by the United States. He contends that our strategy should emphasize the humanitarian dimensions of our assistance rather than pursue the open-ended goal of the restoration of democracy. Such an approach provides the United States greater hope for success and the probability of a dignified exit.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1889/thumbnail.jp

Colombia\u27s Three Wars: U.S. Strategy at the Crossroads

Colombia is the most troubled country in the Western Hemisphere. Drug criminals, guerrillas, and paramilitary groups are feeding a spiral of violence that makes colombianization a metaphor for a failing state. The authors address the strategic dimensions of the crisis. It argues that Colombia\u27s future deeply affects regional security and U.S. interests. The country\u27s afflictions are spilling over its borders, threatening Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and the Caribbean. At the same time, Colombia is the origin of most of the cocaine and heroin entering the United States. The fear is that, if the situation continues to worsen, the country may become balkanized, with large areas under the de facto control of guerrilla and paramilitary regimes based, in large part, on narco-economies. U.S. policy is now at a critical juncture. A decision has been made to become more engaged in the war against narcotrafficking. Yet, the question remains: Can counternarcotics be separated from counterinsurgency? The authors believe that it cannot—that everything is related to everything else—and that unless the Colombian and U.S. governments address the problem through the creation of a coherent, holistic strategy, the situation will become much worse. In the latter half of their report, they discuss both the military and nonmilitary components of such a strategy. Among other things, they contend that restrictions on U.S. police training and counterinsurgency assistance should be removed or revised in order to enable the Colombian security forces to halt the momentum of the insurgents and paramilitaries and give them incentives to negotiate seriously. They also argue that a respect for human rights is of strategic importance.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1849/thumbnail.jp

HST Grism Observations of a Gravitationally Lensed Redshift 10 Galaxy

We present deep spectroscopic observations of a Lyman-break galaxy candidate (hereafter MACS1149-JD) at $z\sim9.5$ with the $\textit{Hubble}$ Space Telescope ($\textit{HST}$) WFC3/IR grisms. The grism observations were taken at 4 distinct position angles, totaling 34 orbits with the G141 grism, although only 19 of the orbits are relatively uncontaminated along the trace of MACS1149-JD. We fit a 3-parameter ($z$, F160W mag, and Ly$\alpha$ equivalent width) Lyman-break galaxy template to the three least contaminated grism position angles using an MCMC approach. The grism data alone are best fit with a redshift of $z_{\mathrm{grism}}=9.53^{+0.39}_{-0.60}$ ($68\%$ confidence), in good agreement with our photometric estimate of $z_{\mathrm{phot}}=9.51^{+0.06}_{-0.12}$ ($68\%$ confidence). Our analysis rules out Lyman-alpha emission from MACS1149-JD above a $3\sigma$ equivalent width of 21 \AA{}, consistent with a highly neutral IGM. We explore a scenario where the red $\textit{Spitzer}$/IRAC $[3.6] - [4.5]$ color of the galaxy previously pointed out in the literature is due to strong rest-frame optical emission lines from a very young stellar population rather than a 4000 \AA{} break. We find that while this can provide an explanation for the observed IRAC color, it requires a lower redshift ($z\lesssim9.1$), which is less preferred by the $\textit{HST}$ imaging data. The grism data are consistent with both scenarios, indicating that the red IRAC color can still be explained by a 4000 \AA{} break, characteristic of a relatively evolved stellar population. In this interpretation, the photometry indicate that a $340^{+29}_{-35}$ Myr stellar population is already present in this galaxy only $\sim500~\mathrm{Myr}$ after the Big Bang.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. This is the accepted versio

Sentidos de "digital" em disputa no currículo de história: que implicações para o ensino desta disciplina?

Este texto admite como base inicial de reflexão as muitas articulações que já se fizeram no campo educacional em torno dos significantes ‘ensino’ e ‘tecnologia’, em geral, fixando sentidos ligados à ideia de ‘inovação’, ‘afinamento com os novos tempos’ e/ou ‘facilitador da aprendizagem’. No caso da disciplina História, fala-se recorrentemente que a utilização das chamadas tecnologias da informação e da comunicação (TICs) pode gerar novas práticas, indo de encontro ao tão combatido ensino ‘tradicional’, ligado à ‘lógica da memorização’. Sem refutar ou corroborar tais afirmativas, e amparando-se nas contribuições das teorizações do discurso formuladas por Ernesto Laclau e Chantal Mouffe, a análise procura mostrar que fixar e disputar ‘sentidos de digital’ no currículo de História é uma ação política, que mobiliza/desloca a fronteira da própria definição do que é e do que não é a ciência/conhecimento histórico na contemporaneidade, provocando alterações, portanto, tanto na cultura histórica, quanto na cultura escolar. Tendo como empiria o Edital do Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD) 2015, entendido como texto curricular, o estudo evidencia e problematiza a forma como as disputas em torno da significação e fixação de ‘sentidos de digital’ têm aparecido na área de História, produzindo deslocamentos em meio às práticas articulatórias que fixam sentido para a interface ‘ensino’-‘tecnologia’.Palavras-chave: História – estudo e ensino; Currícul

Constraints on the [C II] luminosity of a proto-globular cluster at z ∼ 6 obtained with ALMA

We report on ALMA observations of D1, a system at z 3c 6.15 with stellar mass M 17 3c 107M containing globular cluster (GC) precursors, strongly magnified by the galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403. Since the discovery of GC progenitors at high redshift, ours is the first attempt to probe directly the physical properties of their neutral gas through infrared observations. A careful analysis of our dataset, performed with a suitable procedure designed to identify faint narrow lines and which can test various possible values for the unknown linewidth value, allowed us to identify a 4\u3c3 tentative detection of [CII] emission with intrinsic luminosity L[CII] = (2.9 \ub1 1.4) 106L, one of the lowest values ever detected at high redshift. This study offers a first insight on previously uncharted regions of the L[CII] 12 SF R relation. Despite large uncertainties affecting our measure of the star formation rate, if taken at face value our estimate lies more than 3c 1 dex below the values observed in local and high redshift systems. Our weak detection indicates a deficiency of [CII] emission, possibly ascribed to various explanations, such as a low-density gas and/or a strong radiation field caused by intense stellar feedback, and a low metal content. From the non-detection in the continuum we derive constraints on the dust mass, with 3 12 \u3c3 upper limit values as low as 3c a few 104 M, consistent with the values measured in local metal-poor galaxies

Evaluation of the Scopinaro Modified Technique in the Surgical Treatment of Obesity Compared to the Classic Scopinaro Surgery – Results after an 18-Month Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective: To assess whether the modified Scopinaro surgery is as effective and safe as the classic Scopinaro surgery to reduce excess weight, control the comorbidities, and evaluate the onset of clinical and nutritional intercurrences, if any. Methods: The study sample was composed of 28 participants who were randomized to undergo one of the surgical procedures, and who were monitored by a multiprofessional health team to evaluate the impact of the surgery in the treatment of obesity. We assessed the following variables: comorbidities, clinical and nutritional intercurrences and quality of life. The research protocol was approved by the Ethics in Research Committee of Faculdades Integradas de Pitágoras de Montes Claros (under CAAE 26919414.9.0000.5109). All of the participants signed the informed consent form (ICF). Results: The mean pre-surgery body mass index (BMI) for the classic Scopinaro group and the modified Scopinaro group was of 46.89 kg/m2 and 43.22 kg/m2 respectively. After 540 days of the surgery, these values dropped to 32.16 kg/m2 and 28.79 kg/m2. The evaluation of the percentage of excess BMI lost (%EBL) in the period proved the surgical success, with values of 67.33%% for the classic Scopinaro surgery, and of 80.37% for the modified Scopinaro surgery. Control of the comorbidities, as well as a general improvement in the laboratory test results, was achieved by most of the participants subjected to either one of the techniques. Flatulence and diarrhea were the clinical intercurrencesfound as a result of both procedures. Conclusion: We concluded that the modified Scopinaro surgery is as effective and safe as the classic Scopinaro surgery in reducing weight and in the control of comorbidities, and it also presents the possibility of endoscopic access of all of the stomach and duodenum, surgical reversibility, and conversion into another surgical procedure