Domestic Isomorphic pressures in the design of FOI oversight institutions in Latin America

Even though many countries in Latin America have adopted FOI Laws, there are significant differences in the institutional design of FOI oversight institutions. Most explanations highlight the role of political competition in motivating political actors to design strong de jure FOI oversight institutions. The design of FOI oversight institutions in Chile, Peru and Uruguay, however, cannot fully be explained by political competition. We show how isomorphic pressures help explain variation in the de jure strength of the FOI oversight institutions. Our findings highlight the importance of considering domestic constraints on the diffusion of one-size-fits-all models. To analyze each case, we conducted a systematic process-tracing analysis. Our in-depth analysis allowed us to assess different theories concerning the specific institutional design of FOI oversight institutions.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

Multiproject–multicenter evaluation of automatic brain tumor classification by magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Contains fulltext : 75361.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)14 p

Clinical presentation and outcome in a series of 88 patients with the cblC defect

The cblC defect is the most common inborn error of vitamin B12 metabolism. Despite therapeutic measures, the long-term outcome is often unsatisfactory. This retrospective multicentre study evaluates clinical, biochemical and genetic findings in 88 cblC patients. The questionnaire designed for the study evaluates clinical and biochemical features at both initial presentation and during follow up. Also the development of severity scores allows investigation of individual disease load, statistical evaluation of parameters between the different age of presentation groups, as well as a search for correlations between clinical endpoints and potential modifying factors. Results: No major differences were found between neonatal and early onset patients so that these groups were combined as an infantile-onset group representing 88% of all cases. Hypotonia, lethargy, feeding problems and developmental delay were predominant in this group, while late-onset patients frequently presented with psychiatric/behaviour problems and myelopathy. Plasma total homocysteine was higher and methionine lower in infantile-onset patients. Plasma methionine levels correlated with "overall impression” as judged by treating physicians. Physician's impression of patient's well-being correlated with assessed disease load. We confirmed the association between homozygosity for the c.271dupA mutation and infantile-onset but not between homozygosity for c.394C>T and late-onset. Patients were treated with parenteral hydroxocobalamin, betaine, folate/folinic acid and carnitine resulting in improvement of biochemical abnormalities, non-neurological signs and mortality. However the long-term neurological and ophthalmological outcome is not significantly influenced. In summary the survey points to the need for prospective studies in a large cohort using agreed treatment modalities and monitoring criteria

Measurement of the lifetime of the Bc+B_c^+ meson using the Bc+→J/ψπ+B_c^+\rightarrow J/\psi\pi^+ decay mode

The difference in total widths between the $B_c^+$ and $B^+$ mesons is measured using 3.0fb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the LHCb experiment in 7 and 8 TeV centre-of-mass energy proton-proton collisions at the LHC. Through the study of the time evolution of $B_c^+ \rightarrow J/\psi \pi^+$ and $B^+\rightarrow J/\psi K^+$ decays, the width difference is measured to be $$\Delta\Gamma \equiv \Gamma_{B_c^+} - \Gamma_{B^+} = 4.46 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.07mm^{-1}c,$$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The known lifetime of the $B^+$ meson is used to convert this to a precise measurement of the $B_c^+$ lifetime, $$\tau_{B_c^+} = 513.4 \pm 11.0 \pm 5.7fs,$$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.Comment: 19 pagers, 3 figure

Transparency and Access to Public Information in Chile, Peru, and Uruguay [pre-analysis plan]

This project studies the differences in the implementation and operation of freedom-ofinformation (FOI) laws in three Latin American countries (Chile, Peru, and Uruguay), each with its own institutional setting. In Chile, there is a strong state agency with high autonomy and the capacity to monitor compliance. In Peru and Uruguay, these agencies have very low levels of autonomy and a weak monitoring capacity. This project seeks to develop two methodological strategies: randomized field experiments and three case studies. A field experiment will assess the effect of the successful use of FOI law on citizens' perceptions of transparency and trust in institutions. In each case study, we analyze the processes of public information exchange in each country. Using a processtracing approach, we test four main explanations—institutional capacity and legacies, diffusion, political coalitions, and political calculation—of why these three countries developed different right-to-information (RTI) regimes. The inclusion of these three countries in our study helps identify the effect of institutional setting on these processes and also helps increase the external validity of the results of the field experiment.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

Límites institucionales para modelos de políticas de talla única: evidencia sobre el acceso a la información pública en Chile, Perú y Uruguay

Aunque en las últimas dos décadas muchos países de América Latina han adoptado leyes de acceso a la información pública, existen diferencias significativas en el diseño institucional que los países han creado para garantizar el cumplimiento de este derecho. Así, por ejemplo, Chile, Perú y Uruguay presentan tres modelos diferentes de instituciones destinadas a la supervisión y garantía del derecho de acceso a la información pública. La investigación desarrollada en el marco del proyecto “Transparencia y acceso a la información pública en Uruguay, Chile y Perú (ANII FCE_1_2017_1_136604)” muestra que las diferencias en el diseño de las instituciones de supervisión del acceso a la información pública en estos tres países se explican por presiones isomórficas que. Estos hallazgos destacan la importancia de considerar los constreñimientos domésticos en la difusión de políticas públicas.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

¿Cómo la transparencia genera confianza en las instituciones?: efectos del uso exitoso de solicitudes de acceso a la información pública sobre la confianza y las percepciones de transparencia

Varios países en todo el mundo han promulgado reformas de transparencia, especialmente reformas orientadas a incrementar el acceso a la información pública. Si bien se han publicado estudios exhaustivos sobre el impacto de tales reformas, ningún estudio hasta la fecha ha analizado cómo el ejercicio exitoso del derecho de acceso a la información pública afecta la confianza en las instituciones de los ciudadanos. A partir de un experimento de campo en Chile, Perú y Uruguay, identificamos el efecto causal del ejercicio exitoso del derecho de acceso a la información pública sobre la confianza y las percepciones de transparencia de las personas sobre las instituciones estatales. Nuestros hallazgos indican la necesidad de diferenciar entre cómo el ejercicio exitoso del derecho de acceso a la información afecta la confianza de las personas en una institución específica y cómo afecta la confianza en las instituciones gubernamentales en general.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

Who, what and how: Assessing government compliance with right-to-information laws in Chile, Peru, and Uruguay [pre-analysis plan]

This project analyzes the conditions that promote compliance with right-to-information (RTI) laws in three Latin American countries (Chile, Peru and Uruguay). We conduct a field experiment to understand how the status of the requester (who), the content of the request (what) and the way the request is presented (how) influences governments’ response in these three countries. We test whether these three governments’ responsiveness to RTI requests depends on the requester’s public status as a known journalist, the political sensitivity of the request and the level of formality characterizing the request. In contexts of low compliance, bureaucrats and politicians assess reputational and political costs at the time of deciding whether or not to comply with an RTI request. The assessment of both types of cost depends on the combination of what information is requested, who requests it, and how the information is requested. The characteristics of the person who requests the information and how they request it mediate the final assessment of the reputational and political costs associated with the content—the “what”—of the request. Carrying out the same experiment with variations across our three countries of interest increases the external validity of our conclusions and yields a better understanding of cross-country differences.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació