Integration, resource reallocation and productivity: the cases of Brazil and Chile

Most microeconometric studies available for LAC have focused on measuring the direct impact of trade on plant productivity leaving aside other effects that arise through the market selection process. Additionally, most studies have focused on tariff barriers as the only obstacle to international trade and integration. In this paper we use data from Brazil and Chile to analyze how trade affects aggregate productivity through the process of resource reallocation and to explore not only the role of tariffs but also the role of transport costs. We find that trade costs affect the reallocative process by protecting inefficient producers, lowering their likelihood to exit, and also by limiting the expansion of efficient plants, lowering their likelihood to export. We also find that the reallocative impacts of trade come not only from tariff barriers but also from transport costs.Tariff barriers, transport costs, productivity, resource reallocation

Interspecific Pollen Transfer, Gene Flow, and Speciation in Bat-Pollinated Burmeistera H. Karst. & Triana (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae)

The evolutionary success of angiosperms has been largely influenced by their interactions with animal pollinators, which provide pollen and gene transport between individuals, populations, and young diverging species. Here, I examine the interplay between interspecific pollen transfer (IPT) by shared pollinators, gene flow, and the evolution of reproductive isolation in the young rapid radiation of Neotropical bat-pollinated bellflowers in the genus Burmeistera (Campanulaeae: Lobelioideae). In Chapter 1, I conducted an extensive review of the pollination and plant speciation literature to highlight the evolutionary consequences of IPT in angiosperms and showed that it has profound consequences for the evolution of floral traits, reproductive isolation barriers, and patterns of gene flow during speciation. In Chapter 2, I studied how heterospecific pollen deposition affects fruit and seed production in two sympatric Burmeistera species pairs that experience asymmetric pollen transfer among them in nature. Species that were frequent recipients of heterospecific pollen did not show negative effects on reproduction, whereas those that rarely received pollen from relatives produced significantly fewer seeds when more heterospecific pollen was applied to flowers. In Chapter 3, I studied patterns of IPT and introgression in three Burmeistera communities to examine a possible relationship between pollen and gene flow between them. Despite extensive IPT among the study species, I did not detect a significant signal of historic introgression between them suggesting that post-pollination reproductive isolation has been sufficient to prevent historic gene flow. Lastly, in Chapter 4 I quantified pre- and post-pollination isolation for 11 Burmeistera species pairs along a continuum of evolutionary divergence. Average post-pollination isolation was stronger than pre-pollination isolation, yet both stages had similar relative contributions to total isolation among pairs. Lastly, using a dated Burmeistera phylogeny I uncovered a linear positive relationship between post-pollination isolation and time since divergence among pairs, while no such relationship was found for pre-pollination isolation. Post-pollination isolation has thus contributed to speciation during the evolution of Burmeistera while pre-pollination isolation has apparently only evolved later in secondary contact. This dissertation shows how the extraordinary radiation of Burmeistera has proceeded while faithfully upholding their close partnership with their furry nectar-seeking bat friends

European Politics of Citizenship

During the past five years, the European Union has been trying to sponsor a coming of age of European Identity awareness across national borders. In doing so, EU administration intends to square the circle of European Union as the super nation-state of the nation states of Europe. However prompted or justified by the political or economic context, it is noteworthy to what extent the texts of European statutes and policies lack theoretical alternatives to the territorial and relatively homogeneous state. In order for it not to become a threat perceived by the population in identity terms, the apparently forthcoming idea of European citizenship needs to address the concerns of both traditional and new ethnonational minorities at the state level and underneath. In the light of a global context, the tide of Europeanization is but a particular case of the worldwide extended tension between the two increasing and opposing processes of globalization and particularization. Drawing on methodological and theoretical considerations I explore the conflictive and tangled hierarchies of identity and citizenship. Finally, in regard to the problem of how diverse cultures and identities could relate to the universal idea of democratic citizenship, a proposal that attempts to mediate multiculturalism and Eurocentrism will be drafted

Effect of storage temperature on the survival or growth of Listeria monocytogenes on whole and fresh-cut produce

Whole and fresh-cut produce are minimally processed and, therefore susceptible to microbial contamination. This study examined the survival or growth of Listeria monocytogenes on whole, and fresh-cut produce at different storage temperatures. Fresh fruits (cantaloupes, pears, pineapples, papayas, and watermelon) and vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, and green bell peppers) were cut into 25 g pieces and were spot inoculated with 0.5 mL (8 Log CFU/mL) of Listeria monocytogenes. Inoculated fresh-cut samples were stored at 4°C or 13°C for 6 days. To represent the outer surface of the produce, cantaloupes and green bell pepper disks (20 cm2) were cut with the rind and spot inoculated on the rind part with 0.5 mL of inoculum and were stored at 24°C for 8 days or 4°C for 14 days respectively. Listeria count on all fresh-cut samples except broccoli and cauliflower remained similar throughout the storage time at 4°C. At 13°C, Listeria counts increased significantly (p1 log was observed at both storage conditions. Listeria levels significantly increased in fresh-cut lettuce 13°C but remained stable on kale, cauliflower, and broccoli. Listeria growth was not favored on rind samples with levels remaining stable on cantaloupe rind (8 days at 24°C) and was below the detectable limit of the test on bell pepper after 14 days of storage at 4°C. The results obtained during this experiment serve to establish Listeria monocytogenes ability to survive in the fresh-cut produce stored at 4°C, as well as the favorable growth environment created in these surfaces at 13°C

Primer registro de Nebalia troncosoi Moreira, Cacabelos & Domínguez, 2003 (Crustacea: Phyllocarida) en el Mediterráneo ibérico

Leptostracans from western Iberian Peninsula are comparatively better known than in the Mediterranean coasts. The presence of Nebalia troncosoi Moreira, Cacabelos & Domínguez, 2003 is reported for the first time for the Iberian Mediterranean from specimens collected in 2014 off the Ebro Delta river mouth. Material examined fits well with original description including the following diagnostic features: long rostrum (four times as long as wide), a short carapace, one distal spine on the antennule peduncle fourth article, antennule flagellum shorter than the peduncle and provided with 6–7 articles, maxilla II exopod longer than endopod first article, posterodorsal borders of pleonites VI–VII provided with distally acute denticles and anal plates lacking defined ‘shoulders’.Los leptostráceos de las costas occidentales de la península Ibérica han sido comparativamente mejor estudiados que los de las mediterráneas en los últimos años. En este trabajo se reporta por primera vez la presencia de Nebalia troncosoi Moreira, Cacabelos & Domínguez, 2003 en las costas del Mediterráneo ibérico a partir de ejemplares recogidos en 2014 frente al Delta del Ebro. El material examinado coincide con la descripción original de la especie, que está caracterizada por presentar un rostro largo (cuatro veces más largo que ancho), un caparazón corto en relación a su altura, el cuarto artejo del pedúnculo de la anténula con una única espina distal, el flagelo antenular más corto que el pedúnculo y compuesto por 6–7 artejos, el exopodio de la maxilla II más largo que el primer artejo del endopodio, el borde dorsal y posterodorsal de los pleonitos VI–VII con dentículos agudos y las escamas anales sin una meseta definida en el borde medial

El final de las certezas. La formación del profesorado ante la cultura digital

La formación del profesorado en relación a su cualificación como usuario de las nuevas tecnologías de la información en las escuelas es un problema no sólo técnico, sino también político e ideológico. En este artículo se presentan una serie de principios teóricos que fundamentan y justifican cualquier plan o programa de formación de docentes en relación a la educación en el siglo XXI desde una perspectiva crítica del conocimiento

Evaluación de los principales parámetros productivos y reproductivos de un hato de ganado brahman del litoral ecuatoriano

El presente estudio se realizó en un hato de ganado Brahman puro perteneciente a la hacienda “Monocongo”, ubicada en la provincia del Guayas, Cantón Balzar, en el Kilómetro 12 de la vía Balzar – El Empalme. Con este trabajo se pretende evaluar los principales parámetros productivos y reproductivos dentro de la hacienda “Monocongo”, estableciendo una relación comparativa de los datos obtenidos entre los años de 1980 a 1994 por el Dr. Alcides Miranda Nuques vs. los datos obtenidos con este trabajo entre los años 1995 al 2002. Los parámetros productivos a evaluarse serán el peso al nacimiento y al destete de los terneros y terneras; y los parámetros reproductivos que se evaluaran son la edad al primer parto, el intervalo entre parto y la eficiencia reproductiva. Para el desarrollo de este estudio se procederá a la toma de datos de cada una de las variables utilizando los registros de terneros, terneras y las vacas reproductoras de los años 1995 hasta el 2002

Sphaerodoridae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from the DIVA-Artabria I project (2002 cruise) with description of a new species from the Ártabro Gulf (NW Iberian Peninsula)

Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia; PB95-0235Galicia. Consellería de Innovación, Industria e Comercio; PGIDT 01PXI20008PRMinisterio de Educación y Cultura; CTM2004-00740/MA

Two new species of Sphaerodoropsis Hartman & Fauchald, 1971 (Polychaeta: Sphaerodoridae) from Iceland (BIOICE programme)

Two new species of Sphaerodoropsis Hartman & Fauchald, 1971 (Polychaeta: Sphaerodoridae), collected during the BIOICE programme on sedimentary bottoms off Iceland, are described. Sphaerodoropsis gudmunduri sp. nov. is a shelf species (1000 m) and may be distinguished mostly by having up to 13 dorsal macrotubercles arranged in two transverse rows (6–7 macrotubercles, respectively) defining a zig-zag pattern (‘group 3’) and 7 dorsal papillae per chaetiger, up to 8–10 ventral papillae per chaetiger arranged in a non-random pattern and parapodia which bear one digitiform prechaetal lobe, one antero-lateral papilla and compound unidentate chaetae with blades with thin spinulation along their cutting edge. Both species show sexual dimorphism characterized by different arrangements of modified ventral cirri and/or special ventral structures in some mid-body chaetigers; a brief discussion about the presence of these structures on sphaerodorids and their possible importance on the systematics of the family is provided

Revision of three species of Terebellides (Polychaeta: Trichobranchidae) described by C. Hessle in 1917 from the Southern Ocean

A revision of the taxonomic status of Terebellides antarcticus Hessle, 1917, Terebellides longicaudatus Hessle, 1917 and Terebellides minutus Hessle, 1917 was undertaken through the examination of the type material. Thus, T. longicaudatus is regarded as a valid species and redescribed and T. antarcticus and T. minutus are considered as junior synonyms of Terebellides kerguelensis McIntosh, 1818. Terebellides longicaudatus is characterized by the presence of large lateral lobes on chaetigers 1 to 5, 1 and 2 being the largest, first thoracic acicular neurochaetae gently bent, wide thoracic neuropodia fascicles with numerous uncini and the first notopodium greatly reduced. Comments on several body characters related to branchial and chaetal structure are also provided