Macroeconomic policy and elections: Theories and challenges

This paper reviews recent developments in the literature of economic policy-making. It focuses in particular on the relation between elections and macroeconomic policy. It should also be noted that in spite of tremendous advances in the area, there are still many important unresolved issues. In particular, both the normative and empirical areas are the ones in most urgent need study.

La imaginación en un burdel, un sueño latinoamericano hecho ficción: los prostíbulos novelescos (Estudios)

En el año 2009, el escritor Jorge Volpi publicó el ensayo El insomnio de Bolívar en el que argumenta a favor de abandonar, por irreal y quimérica, la idea de “literatura latinoamericana”. Mediante la lectura de cuatro novelas –Juntacadáveres (1964), El lugar sin límites (1965), La casa verde (1966) y Pantaleón y las visitadoras (1973)– buscaré develar lo erróneo y tendencioso de tal postura. Así, fundamentaré mi argumento en el análisis minucioso de los prostíbulos novelescos que albergan las cuatro ficciones, desde sus apariciones hasta sus aniquilamientos. Apariciones que lejos de ser insignificantes muestran desde un inicio una complejidad extrema por la serie de tensiones que articulan entre los personajes y las sociedades representadas. Dicha complejidad se enriquece y densifica una vez que pensamos en el tipo de actividades que tienen lugar en los lupanares, actividades en las cuales la fiesta y el carnaval pautan toda una serie de metamorfosis, completamente ajenas a la realidad exterior. Finalmente, me centraré en la dinámica de los proxenetas o fundadores de los burdeles, individuos singulares que manifiestan una voluntad inaudita en la cual la imaginación busca negar y suplantar la realidad. No obstante, sus actividades, que en ocasiones hacen pensar en ejercicios utópicos, terminan sucumbiendo a la censura social que, de un modo o de otro, destruye a los prostíbulos sin que esto signifique terminar con los cambios introducidos por estos en las sociedades que los acogen. Ya que muy pocos otros espacios ficcionales son tan frecuentes y ricos en valores dentro de la literatura latinoamericana demostraré en la conclusión de qué manera este tipo de textos (y espacios novelescos) permiten hablar a justo título de “literatura latinoamericana”.In the 2009, writer Jorge Volpi published the essay “El insomnio de Bolívar” (“Bolívar’s insomnia”) in which he argues in favor of abandoning, for being unreal and chimeric, the idea of “Latin American literature”. Through the reading of four novels –“Body Snatcher” (“Juntacadáveres” 1964), “The Place Without Limits” (“El lugar sin límites” 1965), “The Green House” (“La casa verde” 1966) and “Captain Pantoja and the Special Service” (“Pantaleón y las visitadoras 1973)– I will seek to reveal how wrong and tendentious such a stance is. To do so, I will base my argument on the minute analysis of the novelistic brothels that found in the four stories, from their appearances to their annihilation. Appearances that, far from being insignificant, show from the beginning an extreme complexity through the series of tensions that are articulated between the characters and the societies represented. This complexity becomes enriched and dense once we think of the types of activities that take place in the whorehouses, activities in which the festivities and carnavals determine a whole series of metamorphoses, completely alien to outside reality. Lastly, I will focus on the dynamics of the pimps or promoters of the brothels, peculiar individuals that manifest an unheard-of will in which imagination searches to deny and replace reality. However, their activities, which in some cases evoke utopian exercises, end up succumbing to social censorship that, in one way or another, destroys the brothels without meaning the end of the changes introduced by them in the societies that receive them. Since very few other fictional spaces are so frequent and rich in values in Latin American literature, in the conclusion I will demonstrate how this type of text (and novelistic space) allows us to justifiably speak of “Latin American literature”

Calculations of Electric Capacitance in Carbon and BN Nanotubes, and Zigzag Nanographite (BN, BCN) Ribbons

Electronic states in nanographite ribbons with zigzag edges are studied using the extended Hubbard model with nearest neighbor Coulomb interactions. The electronic states with the opposite electric charges separated along both edges are analogous as nanocondensers. Therefore, electric capacitance, defined using a relation of polarizability, is calculated to examine nano-functionalities. We find that the behavior of the capacitance is widely different depending on whether the system is in the magnetic or charge polarized phases. In the magnetic phase, the capacitance is dominated by the presence of the edge states while the ribbon width is small. As the ribbon becomes wider, the capacitance remains with large magnitudes as the system develops into metallic zigzag nanotubes. It is proportional to the inverse of the width, when the system corresponds to the semiconducting nanotubes and the system is in the charge polarized phase also. The latter behavior could be understood by the presence of an energy gap for charge excitations. In the BN (BCN) nanotubes and ribbons, the electronic structure is always like of semiconductors. The calculated capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance between the positive and negative electrodes.Comment: 4 pages; 6 figures; related: http://staff.aist.go.jp/k.harigaya

Using media to improve the informed consent process for youth undergoing pediatric endoscopy and their parents.

Background and study aims Youth undergoing pediatric endoscopic procedures and their parents demonstrate suboptimal comprehension of the informed consent (IC) process. We developed informational videos discussing key IC elements for pediatric endoscopy and evaluated their effects on youth and parental comprehension of the IC process. Patients and methods A randomized controlled trial of the video intervention was performed among youth undergoing endoscopy and their parents at an academic children's hospital. Randomization occurred at the time of enrollment using permutated blocks. Following the IC process with the proceduralist, subjects underwent structured interviews to assess IC comprehension. An Informed Consent Overall Score (ICOS: range 0 - 4) for comprehension was calculated. Results Seventy-seven pairs of children and their parents participated. Intervention recipients (N = 37 pairs) demonstrated higher ICOS scores as compared to control counterparts (mean (standard deviation): 3.6 (0.7) v. 2.9 (0.9), intervention v. control parents, P < 0.0001 and 2.7 (1.1) v. 1.7 (1.1), intervention v. control youth, P < 0.0001). Conclusions A media intervention addressing key elements of the IC process for pediatric endoscopy was effective in improving comprehension of IC for youth undergoing endoscopic procedures and their parents

Novel hetero-layered materials with tunable direct band gaps by sandwiching different metal disulfides and diselenides

"Although bulk hexagonal phases of layered semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (STMD) such as MoS2, WS2, WSe2 and MoSe2 exhibit indirect band gaps, a mono-layer of STMD possesses a direct band gap which could be used in the construction of novel optoelectronic devices, catalysts, sensors and valleytronic components. Unfortunately, the direct band gap only occurs for mono-layered STMD. We have found, using first principles calculations, that by alternating individual layers of different STMD (MoS2, WS2, WSe2 and MoSe2) with particular stackings, it is possible to generate direct band gap bi-layers ranging from 0.79 eV to 1.157 eV. Interestingly, in this direct band gap, electrons and holes are physically separated and localized in different layers. We foresee that the alternation of different STMD would result in the fabrication of materials with unprecedented optical and physico-chemical properties that would need further experimental and theoretical investigations.