Debt Valuation Effects when there is Foreign Currency-Denominated Debt

This paper discusses the way in which the existence of debt denominated in both domestic and foreign currency affects debt-sustainability analyses. Ignoring valuation issues can lead to misleading conclusions regarding fiscal sustainability. We show that a devaluation of the domestic currency can significantly change the path of a sustainable fiscal policy. In our model, the adjustment not only comes through the change in the value of the foreign currency-denominated public debt, but also though the effects on the interest rate and growth. We find that the required fiscal adjustment to achieve fiscal sustainability after a devaluation increases with the size of the devaluation, the length of the adjustment period, the effect on interest rates and growth, and the share of public debt that is denominated in foreign currency.Public debt, valuation effects, debt management

Investing in Schooling in Chile: The Role of Information about Financial Aid for Higher Education

Recent economic research shows that imperfect information about Mincer returns to education (in developing countries) or about financial aid (in the US) may undermine investments in schooling and exacerbate inequalities in access to education. We extend this literature by presenting the results of an experiment that provided children and a subset of their parents with specific information about financial aid for higher education, and measured the impact on effort in primary school. We developed a DVD information program and randomly assigned a sample of Chilean 8th graders in poor urban schools to information treatment and control groups. Half of the treatment group watched the DVD at school (Student group) and the other half received a copy of the program to watch at home (Family group). Using survey and matched administrative data to measure outcomes three to six months post-intervention, we show that knowledge of financial aid sources improves in treated schools and school-reported absenteeism falls by 14%. These responses appear to be driven by students with higher baseline grades; yet we find no significant effects on 8th Grade scores or 9th Grade enrolment for any students. While parents in the Family treatment group score significantly higher on tests of information related to DVD content, watching the DVD at home is no more effective at changing effort than watching at school, at least for high ability students likely to select in to watching the DVD. Our results suggest that Chile falls somewhere between developing and developed countries: exposure to information about financial aid for post-secondary schooling significantly affects student knowledge and absenteeism, but is insufficient for improving other educational outcomes.finaicial aid, education, Chile, imperfect information, behavior, education investment

Inclusive Development in Latin America and Smallholders’ Interactive Learning Spaces

Inclusive development appears as a challenge in Latin America countries after the rupture of the social inclusion as a trickle-down effect of the economic growth. Searching development with inclusion several public policies were implemented in Latin American focusing in the agri-food production. In order to assess the progress to reach such objectives, two cases are studied. Smallholder milk producers at the Loma Blanca community (Mexico) and smallholders olive producers at Aimogasta (Argentina) were considered. Interactive learning spaces were clearly identified as consequence of the linking between product, producers and territory. Despite these results, several queries are still opened.Fil: Bastida Mercado, Claudia. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México; MéxicoFil: García Martínez, Anastacio. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México; MéxicoFil: Sanchez, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios Urbanos y Regionales; Argentina. Universidad de Morón; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentin

FAMILIAS TRANSNACIONALES. NUEVAS TRAYECTORIAS FAMILIARES DE CARA AL FENÓMENO MIGRATORIO

El propósito de este trabajo establecer una aproximación al estudio de las nuevas trayectorias familiares producto de los movimientos de población y que dan como resultado la conformación de familias transnacionales y su retorno al Estado de México

Construction of a taxonomy for requirements engineering commercial-off-the-shelf components

This article presents a procedure for constructing a taxonomy of COTS products in the field of Requirements Engineering (RE). The taxonomy and the obtained information reach transcendental benefits to the selection of systems and tools that aid to RE-related actors to simplify and facilitate their work. This taxonomy is performed by means of a goal-oriented methodology inspired in GBRAM (Goal-Based Requirements Analysis Method), called GBTCM (Goal-Based Taxonomy Construction Method), that provides a guide to analyze sources of information and modeling requirements and domains, as well as gathering and organizing the knowledge in any segment of the COTS market. GBTCM claims to promote the use of standards and the reuse of requirements in order to support different processes of selection and integration of components.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Protección de la naturaleza y turismo en la Revolución Cubana de 1959: el caso de la Ciénaga de Zapata

El triunfo de la Revolución Cubana, en 1959, trajo consigo cambios en todas las esferas de la vida de la nación. Se dedicó especial interés a las llamadas ‘zonas deprimidas’, regiones de atraso económico y cultural con alto potencial natural que podía ser utilizado no solo en labores agrícolas, sino también como destinos turísticos. La Ciénaga de Zapata fue uno de estos sitios. De particular importancia es el Complejo Turístico La Boca Guamá. Enclavado en la Laguna del Tesoro, uno de los embalses naturales mayores de Cuba, el complejo fue diseñado y construido en la década del sesenta. En él quedaron impresos los ideales conservacionistas de una parte de la dirigencia revolucionaria, que propiciaron un turismo social de mayor acceso nacional y vinculado al contacto directo con la naturaleza cubana. Actualmente, los impactos ambientales del turismo son significativos, y su estudio debe merecer la atención de los historiadores ambientales

Pericia psiquiátrica forense: estudio crítico sobre la integración del derecho de autor y el derecho de acto para fallar en un ordenamiento constitucional restringido

Artículo de reflexiónLa psiquiatría forense es ciencia auxiliar para el sistema de justicia. Converge en teorías comunes al derecho penal en sus orígenes sociocriminológicos. Se entrevé en ambas la valoración y discusión respecto a un mismo sujeto, sin embargo, desde el quehacer particular cada uno lo valora a partir de una tendencia determinada por la doctrina penal como – derecho de autor y derecho de acto – respectivamente. La primera, valora al sujeto – como autor – propiamente dicho dada la estructura de su gold estándar – entrevista psiquiátrica -, cuyo informe artesanalmente elaborado le provee al operador judicial información de – autor – para una valoración hermenéutica – de acto –. Evidenciándose por tanto, la importancia en su integración y aplicación en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico, a pesar de encontrarse restringido por la norma de normas.INTRODUCCIÓN. I. LA PSIQUIATRÍA FORENSE COMO CIENCIA AUXILIAR DEL DERECHO. II. MODELOS DE LA ANORMALIDAD. III LA CIENCIA DEL DERECHO. IV INTEGRACIÓN DERECHO DE ACTO Y DERECHO DE AUTOR EN LA PRÁCTICA PERICIAL PSIQUIÁTRICA CONCLUSIONES. REFERENCIASPregradoAbogad

Towards guidelines for building a business case and gathering evidence of software reference architectures in industry

Background: Software reference architectures are becoming widely adopted by organizations that need to support the design and maintenance of software applications of a shared domain. For organizations that plan to adopt this architecture-centric approach, it becomes fundamental to know the return on investment and to understand how software reference architectures are designed, maintained, and used. Unfortunately, there is little evidence-based support to help organizations with these challenges. Methods: We have conducted action research in an industry-academia collaboration between the GESSI research group and everis, a multinational IT consulting firm based in Spain. Results: The results from such collaboration are being packaged in order to create guidelines that could be used in similar contexts as the one of everis. The main result of this paper is the construction of empirically-grounded guidelines that support organizations to decide on the adoption of software reference architectures and to gather evidence to improve RA-related practices. Conclusions: The created guidelines could be used by other organizations outside of our industry-academia collaboration. With this goal in mind, we describe the guidelines in detail for their use.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Experimental implementation of an IoT platform for automatic actuation in a building

L'Internet de les coses (IoT), i específicament el seu ús per a Smart Buildings, ha augmentat en popularitat en els darrers anys, gràcies a les millores en les tecnologies de comunicacions i en hardware que fa que sigui més fàcil que mai poder interconnectar dispositius. Un dels principals punts d'interès, particularment dels Smart Buildings, és la capacitat de millorar l'eficiència energètica i reduir el malbaratament, ajustant automàticament els recursos de l'edifici i proporcionar als usuaris més comoditat. Tenint en compte aquest concepte i intentant millorar la proactivitat dels Smart Buildings per gestionar de manera més eficient els recursos, la tesi "Design and simulation of an interoperable IoT platform for automatic actuation in buildings" proposa una solució, i la prova en un escenari virtual, modelant i simulant aquesta implementació. Seguint aquesta idea, en aquest projecte vam portar aspectes d'aquesta solució teòrica a un entorn real. Vam implementat una Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) a l'edifici, amb sensors i gateways, per tal de controlar i documentar els resultats d'una implementació real i la seva viabilitat. Les nostres conclusions criden l'atenció sobre les diferències entre els resultats obtinguts dels sensors simulats i els de sensors reals, així com els obstacles que s'han trobat durant l'experiment, oferint solucions per a dissenys futurs.The Internet of Things (IoT), and specifically its use for Smart Buildings, has been on the rise in the last few years thanks to improvements in wireless communications and hardware that make it easier than ever to interconnect devices. One of the main points of interest of Smart Buildings, in particular, is the ability to improve energy efficiency and reduce waste, automatically adjusting the building's resources and providing users with higher comfort. With this concept in mind, and trying to improve the proactiveness of Smart Buildings to more efficiently manage resources, the thesis "Design and simulation of an interoperable IoT platform for automatic actuation in buildings" proposes a solution and tests it in a virtual scenario, modeling the sensor values and simulating this implementation. Furthering this idea, in this project we brought aspects of this theoretical solution to a real environment. We implemented a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) through the building, with real sensors and gateways, in order to monitor and document the results of a real implementation and its viability. Our conclusions draw attention to the differences between the simulated and real sensor implementations, as well as the obstacles that have been found during the experiment, offering solutions for future designs