EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF HEALTH CARE REFORM IN COLOMBIA: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

This article presents an evaluation of an ambitious health reform implemented in Colombia during the first half of the nineties. The reform attempted to radically change public provision of health services, by means of the transformation of subsidies to supply (direct transfers to hospitals) into a new scheme of subsidies to demand (transfers targeted at the poorest citizens). Although the percentage of the population having medical care insurance has notably increased, mostly among the poorest, problems of implementation have been numerous. It has not been possible to achieve the transformation of subsidies to supply into subsidies to demand. At the same time, competition has not made it possible to increase the efficiency of many public hospitals, which continue to operate with very low occupation rates, while receiving hefty money transfers. Subsidies increased demand for medical consultations, but have curbed demand for hospitalizations. Nonetheless, subsidies might have adversely affected female´s labor market participation and even household consumption. As a whole, evidence suggests that the health reform has been effective in rationalizing households´ demand for health, but not in rationalizing public supply, and neither in increasing the efficiency of service providers.demand subsidies, targeted social services, instrumental variables

Implementación de un repositorio digital para el entorno local de la Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de La Habana

Objective. It was implemented a digital repository for the local environment of the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana. Design/Methodology/Approach. The research was descriptive with a focus applied to the context. Results/Discussion. The digital repository was based on a traditional project design life cycle structure that used the analysis of the context of the Faculty of Communication of the University of Havana as fundamentals, the information needs of key actors and the consultation of homologous institutions for the maintenance of the essential functions that the repository must perform. Conclusions. In its broadest sense, repositories are a valuable tool for university libraries, since they allow visualizing and downloading the research results of the institution in question. The repository of the Faculty of Communication is part of the necessary systems oriented to preserve the investigative memory of the institution, and contribute to the long-term access of the accumulated knowledge. Originality/Value. The value of this study lies in the implementation of an institutional repository in a small academic environment with scarce material resources

The power of read as a revolutionary learning tool. The case of Spanish anarchism in the 30s

El presente trabajo pretende analizar la importancia de la lectura y del libro dentro del anarquismo de los años treinta en España. En un estudio de la historia de la lectura no puede faltar un análisis de la producción de lo escrito, la forma de acceso a su contenido, los gustos lectores de la militancia y los factores internos que definían a estas publicaciones. El libro es considerado un objeto de culto y admiración porque permite al individuo formarse una cultura libre frente al poder, de ahí que fuera considerado un instrumento moralmente emancipador del que el trabajador debía valerse para formarse una verdadera conciencia revolucionaria. Los Ateneos libertarios y la prensa ácrata destacaron por ser los principales canales de difusión de todo tipo de obras de distintas temáticas entre sus afiliados y simpatizantes.This paper aims to analyze the importance of reading and of the book in the context of anarchism in the 1930’s in Spain. No study of the history of reading can be complete without an analysis of written productions, the way access was provided to content, the reading tastes of the affiliated members, and the internal issues that defined those publications. The book is considered an object of cult and admiration because it allows individuals to shape a free culture against power. Hence, the book was considered a moral liberator tool that workers had to use to shape a true revolutionary consciousness. The Libertarian Athenaeums and the anarchistic press stood out as the main dissemination channels of all types of works dealing with different topics among their affiliates and sympathizers

Un nuevo dato biográfico sobre Cosme de Aldana

The present investigation brings to light a new piece of biographical data about Cosme de Aldana. It is shown that the poet studied law in the University of Pisa, something he himself states in his Asneyda, but which now can be proven beyond any doubt. At the same time it is here suggested that a) the Asneyda deserves being recovered from oblivion, and b) that in this as in other works Cosme provides clues (some of which are examined in the present article) that could be of great value when attempting to reconstruct his biography, a task that would contribute to a better knowledge of the 16th century in general, and of the Spanish-Italian aristocracy of that period in particular

Sexuality, nudity and morality in the Spanish anarchism of the thirties: from the debates in the press to the application of the abortion law during the Spanish Civil War

Este artículo tiene por objetivo el análisis de la visión anarquista de la sexualidad, el cuerpo, el desnudismo y la moral sexual, como conformadores de un nuevo individuo. Dichos debates, que encuentran en las publicaciones anarquistas el medio principal para su difusión, se basan necesariamente en los avances logrados en décadas anteriores en el campo de la medicina y en la extensión de una visión naturalista y armónica del cuerpo desnudo. El estudio forma parte de un análisis cuantitativo que muestra la defensa de una nueva ética sexual que moraliza el sexo como un comportamiento biológico saludable e introduce las bases para el debate posterior en las publicaciones anarquistas de la época: ¿procreación sin límites o anticoncepcionismo? Ambas corrientes trascendían el debate sexual para centrar la discusión en el modelo de sociedad que se construiría con la aplicación de cada una de estas opciones. Controversia que pareció, sin embargo, cerrarse parcialmente con la aprobación de la ley del aborto durante la Guerra Civil Española.This article aims to analyse the anarchist vision of sexuality, the body, nudity and sexual morality as shapers of a new individual. Necessary precedents to these debates, which utilise anarchist publications as their main means of diffusion, include medical advances achieved in previous decades and the extension of a naturalistic and harmonious vision of the naked body. This study is part of a quantitative analysis that shows the defence of new sexual ethics that moralise sex as healthy biological behaviour, and introduces the basis for the subsequent debate in the anarchist publications of the time: unbounded procreation or contraception? Both currents transcended the sexual debate to focus the discussion on the model of society that would be constructed by applying these respective options. The controversy appeared to have been settled, at least in part, by the approval of the abortion law during the Spanish Civil War

Optimum semiconductor bandgaps in single junction and multijunction thermophotovoltaic converters

The choice of the optimum semiconductor for manufacturing thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells is not straightforward. In contrast to conventional solar photovoltaics (PV) where the optimum semiconductor bandgap is determined solely by the spectrum (and eventually the irradiance) of the incident solar light, in a TPV converter it depends on the emitter temperature and on the spectral control elements determining the net spectral power flux between the TPV cell and the emitter. Additionally, in TPV converters there is a tradeoff between power density and conversion efficiency that does not exist in conventional solar PV systems. Thus, the choice of the proper semiconductor compound in TPV converters requires a thorough analysis that has not been presented so far. This paper presents the optimum semiconductor bandgaps leading to the maximum efficiency and power density in TPV converters using both single junction and multijunction TPV cells. These results were obtained within the framework of the detailed balance theory and assuming only radiative recombination. Optimal bandgaps are provided as a function of the emitter and cell temperature, as well as the degree of spectral control. I show that multijunction TPV cells are excellent candidates to maximize both the efficiency and the power density simultaneously, eliminating the historical tradeoff between efficiency and power density of TPV converters. Finally, multijunction TPV cells are less sensitive to photon recycling losses, which suggest that they can be combined with relatively simple cut-off spectral control systems to provide practically-viable high performing TPV devices

El anarquismo español ante el debate sanitario en España: salud, enfermedad y medicina (1930-1939)

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar la visión que los propagandistas médicos del anarquismo español de los años treinta tenían de la salud, la sanidad y la enfermedad. La visión que este grupo tenía de la medicina, partía de una crítica al Estado, el capitalismo y la Iglesia Católica como causantes últimos de la mayor parte de enfermedades. La crítica se extendía también a la medicina tradicional, acusándola de perpetuar una visión de la enfermedad más centrada en el microbio que en el medio social y económico imperante. El debate sanitario se inserta en una lucha moral entre el anarquismo y el resto de poderes e ideologías imperantes. A través de la lucha sindical y la difusión cultural de la prensa libertaria, se pretendía crear una conciencia revolucionaria para la defensa de una sanidad universal de la que se pudieran beneficiar todos los trabajadores. En el fondo, a pesar del debate médico, subyace la idea de que una verdadera transformación de la medicina y la sanidad solo sería posible con la implantación del comunismo libertario

El diálogo De Vita Beata, de Juan de Lucena: un rompecabezas histórico (I).

Sin resume

Assessing the Link between Adolescent Fertility and Urban Crime

We use data of neighborhoods of Bogotá to assess the causal relation between their adolescent fertility and their homicide rates. We find that neighborhoods with high adolescent fertility rates, and that have low secondary enrollment and high crime rates at the moment the children of their teen mothers become teenagers, are more likely to have higher homicide rates in the future, when those children reach their peak crime ages, estimated to be between 18 to 26 years old in violent cities of Colombia. The result is robust to various specifications, and to modeling the spatial autocorrelation of homicides.Crime, Illegal Behavior, Law Enforcement, Adolescent Fertility, Spatial Econometrics. Classification JEL: K40, K42, R21, J13, C21

System for the management of the technical maintenance of a company

This project consists on the creation and development of a model to manage technical maintenance within a company. The first part of the model is based on a control system made through worksheets using the EXCEL program. This part allows the analysis and decision making for the continuous improvement of maintenance and to reach pre-established objectives. The second part consists on a simulation system made through the ARIS program (software used in the business modelling). This part allows to test and simulate the proposed improvements for technical maintenance and observe their consequences. Prior to the creation and development of the model, certain indicators have been defined as control variables of the system, specifically the KPIs. Thereby, a search and a selection of the most useful indicators have been carried out in order to evaluate maintenance in the model. The KPIs quantify the different sections of the maintenance and allow to work with numerical values. In this way, maintenance comparisons can be made through the values of the indicators. Finally, an exemplary case has been displayed to portray the operation of the model. In this section, the initial state is analysed and solutions are proposed. Then, each one of them is simulated to observe the effects in the maintenance plan. At the end, a comparison is made between them and they are organized accordingly to their improvement in the technical maintenance plan