Political Competition and Policy Adoption: Market Reforms in Latin American Public Utilities

This paper shows that political competition generates incentives that affect the pace of adoption of market reforms in the context of policy convergence. Previous work shows the effect of financial and technological pressures in promoting policy convergence and the impact of institutional constraints on shaping the pace of policymaking. Controlling for these effects, this paper demonstrates the policy effects of political competition and ideological polarization between the incumbent and its contenders even at a time when ideological policy differences seem to be fading due to policy convergence. In studying policy adoption, the authors use duration analysis for the 18 countries of Latin America during the 1985-2000 period when most of the market reforms in public utilities were adopted

Outliers of presidential approval: dynamics, levels, and rates

[EN] Presidential approval tends to exhibit the dynamics of honeymoon, decline, and a rebound as elections near. But several presidential administrations and, indeed, some countries themselves, do not conform to this pattern. This introduction to the special issue identifies and classifies outliers to the typical dynamics of approval using a 12-category taxonomy and data on 140 presidential administrations in 18 Latin American countries from the Executive Approval Project 1.0. Contributors to this special issue use this taxonomy to select outlier cases to explain in their respective articles. This combination of cross-national and case-study approaches suggest a more general theory of presidential approval can be constructed by systematically testing new hypotheses generated in this special issue concerning the role of governing style, political communication, security, policy choice, and institutional context

Divided government shields leaders from blame for the economy but affords no quarter in the fight against terrorism

When disaster strikes, governments tend to be held accountable whether it is an economic disaster, such as the recent financial crisis, or a terrorist attack. In new research, Ryan E. Carlin, Gregory J. Love and Cecilia Martínez-Gallardo use data from Latin America to examine the effects of unified and divided government on how citizens ascribe blame when terrorism and negative economic outcomes occur. They find that because the executive shares responsibility with national and international factors for the state of the economy, citizens are more forgiving when government is divided. After terrorist attacks, on the other hand, citizens blame their leaders even if government is divided as they see their leaders as having near sole responsibility for issues of national security

When growth is not enough: Inequality, economic gains, and executive approval

A robust economy is assumed to bolster leaders\u27 standing. This ignores how benefits of growth are distributed. Extending the partisan models of economic voting, we theorize executives are more likely rewarded when gains from growth go to their constituents. Analyses of presidential approval in 18 Latin American countries support our pro-constituency model of accountability. When economic inequality is high, growth concentrates among the rich, and approval of right-of-center presidents is higher. Leftist presidents benefit from growth when gains are more equally distributed. Further analyses show growth and inequality inform perceptions of personal finances differently based on wealth, providing a micro-mechanism behind the aggregate findings. Study results imply that the economy is not purely a valence issue, but also a position issue

Repositorio digital de micrografías electrónicas: una herramienta para la exploración y divulgación de micromundos ocultos

Introducción: Con el fin de realizar una descripción sistemática se propone digitalizar y curar el acervo de micrografías obtenidas por microscopía electrónica que conserva la institución a fin de constituir un catálogo de datos micrográficos para la educación y divulgación científicas. Metodología: Consiste en organizar y realizar la conversión analógica-digital de la colección de acuerdo a lo siguiente: i) desarrollo de protocolos para la digitalización; ii) descripción de la colección conforme estándares internacionales; iii) diseño de sistema de almacenamiento; iv) maquetado, diseño y puesta en línea de una plataforma virtual; v) descripción de las micrografías en dicha plataforma. Resultados: El principal producto que genera la institución son micrografías obtenidas con microscopios electrónicos de transmisión y barrido y, reunido el acervo, se contabilizan 40.000 micrografías nativas analógicas y 27.700 digitales, habiéndose digitalizado, al momento, el 30,5% del mismo. El material a catalogar es totalmente diverso dentro de las ciencias donde un 20 % corresponde a biopsias renales y de piel, 57,6% a material biológico en general y el resto a muestras no biológicas. Se encuentra en desarrollo y diagramación la plataforma web con diferentes sistemas de acceso. Conclusiones: La concreción de este repositorio se erige como pionero en el área ya que es el primero especializado en micrografías dentro de la región. Su puesta a disposición en línea permitirá un acceso programado a un recurso valioso para la educación y divulgación científica.Universidad Nacional de Tucumá

Repositorio digital de micrografías electrónicas: una herramienta para la exploración y divulgación de micromundos ocultos

Introducción: Con el fin de realizar una descripción sistemática se propone digitalizar y curar el acervo de micrografías obtenidas por microscopía electrónica que conserva la institución a fin de constituir un catálogo de datos micrográficos para la educación y divulgación científicas. Metodología: Consiste en organizar y realizar la conversión analógica-digital de la colección de acuerdo a lo siguiente: i) desarrollo de protocolos para la digitalización; ii) descripción de la colección conforme estándares internacionales; iii) diseño de sistema de almacenamiento; iv) maquetado, diseño y puesta en línea de una plataforma virtual; v) descripción de las micrografías en dicha plataforma. Resultados: El principal producto que genera la institución son micrografías obtenidas con microscopios electrónicos de transmisión y barrido y, reunido el acervo, se contabilizan 40.000 micrografías nativas analógicas y 27.700 digitales, habiéndose digitalizado, al momento, el 30,5% del mismo. El material a catalogar es totalmente diverso dentro de las ciencias donde un 20 % corresponde a biopsias renales y de piel, 57,6% a material biológico en general y el resto a muestras no biológicas. Se encuentra en desarrollo y diagramación la plataforma web con diferentes sistemas de acceso. Conclusiones: La concreción de este repositorio se erige como pionero en el área ya que es el primero especializado en micrografías dentro de la región. Su puesta a disposición en línea permitirá un acceso programado a un recurso valioso para la educación y divulgación científica.Universidad Nacional de Tucumá

Promoting unsupervised walking in women with fibromyalgia: a randomized controlled trial

The objective of this study is to test the efficacy of a group motiva-tional plus implementation intentions intervention in promoting adherence to an unsupervised walking program recommended for fibromyalgia, compared to an implementation intentions condition and to an active control condition. A triple-blind, randomized, long-itudinal study with measures at baseline, short (seven weeks post- intervention), mid (12 weeks) and long-term (36 weeks) is performed. Data are analyzed using multilevel longitudinal growth curve two- level modelling. Participants are 157 women with fibromyalgia. In the short-term, adherence to the minimum and to the standard walking program (primary outcome measures) is explained by time (both p <.001), motivational plus implementation intentions intervention (both p <.001) and by their interaction (both p <.001). Regarding the secondary outcomes, only physical function is explained by time (p <.001), motivational plus implementation intentions intervention (p <.05) and by their interaction (p <.05). Motivational plus imple-mentation intentions intervention achieve the promotion of walking as an exercise in the short-term; furthermore, physical function of the women in this condition is better than in the other two intervention groups, which is a relevant outcome from a rehabilitation point of view. However, more studies are needed to maintain the exercise at mid and long-term

Microbiology and Nitrogen Cycle in the Benthic Sediments of a Glacial Oligotrophic Deep Andean Lake as Analog of Ancient Martian Lake-Beds

Potential benthic habitats of early Mars lakes, probably oligotrophic, could range from hydrothermal to cold sediments. Dynamic processes in the water column (such as turbidity or UV penetration) as well as in the benthic bed (temperature gradients, turbation, or sedimentation rate) contribute to supply nutrients to a potential microbial ecosystem. High altitude, oligotrophic, and deep Andean lakes with active deglaciation processes and recent or past volcanic activity are natural models to assess the feasibility of life in other planetary lake/ocean environments and to develop technology for their exploration. We sampled the benthic sediments (down to 269 m depth) of the oligotrophic lake Laguna Negra (Central Andes, Chile) to investigate its ecosystem through geochemical, biomarker profiling, and molecular ecology studies. The chemistry of the benthic water was similar to the rest of the water column, except for variable amounts of ammonium (up to 2.8 ppm) and nitrate (up to 0.13 ppm). A life detector chip with a 300-antibody microarray revealed the presence of biomass in the form of exopolysaccharides and other microbial markers associated to several phylogenetic groups and potential microaerobic and anaerobic metabolisms such as nitrate reduction. DNA analyses showed that 27% of the Archaea sequences corresponded to a group of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) similar (97%) to Nitrosopumilus spp. and Nitrosoarchaeum spp. (Thaumarchaeota), and 4% of Bacteria sequences to nitrite-oxidizing bacteria from the Nitrospira genus, suggesting a coupling between ammonia and nitrite oxidation. Mesocosm experiments with the specific AOA inhibitor 2-Phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-oxide (PTIO) demonstrated an AOA-associated ammonia oxidation activity with the simultaneous accumulation of nitrate and sulfate. The results showed a rich benthic microbial community dominated by microaerobic and anaerobic metabolisms thriving under aphotic, low temperature (4°C), and relatively high pressure, that might be a suitable terrestrial analog of other planetary settings