Natural resource abundance and FDI in Latin America. The path of inequality.

Does natural resource abundance decrease Latin American Foreign Direct Investment? This paper studies the effects of natural resource abundance on foreign direct investment (FDI), by focusing on inequality as the channel that links these two variables. Two arguments in the literature inspire this paper: 1) scholars attribute Latin America’s high income inequality to its abundance of natural resources; and 2) some scholars argue that income inequality leads to lower investment. I argue that large shares of capital-intensive endowments (export measured as percentage share of GDP) are associated with low levels of secondary and tertiary FDI. The theory is based on the Stopel-Samuelson model, which claims that rises in the price of a capital-intensive commodity leads to an increase in the return to capital, and conversely, to a fall in the return to labor and wages. I analyze this logic through a two-stage least square model examining 15 Latin American countries from 1984-2007. I conclude, among several conflicting results that the inequality levels generated by exports can explain 40 percent of the variance of secondary and tertiary FDI

A minimalistic approach for fast computation of geodesic distances on triangular meshes

The computation of geodesic distances is an important research topic in Geometry Processing and 3D Shape Analysis as it is a basic component of many methods used in these areas. In this work, we present a minimalistic parallel algorithm based on front propagation to compute approximate geodesic distances on meshes. Our method is practical and simple to implement and does not require any heavy pre-processing. The convergence of our algorithm depends on the number of discrete level sets around the source points from which distance information propagates. To appropriately implement our method on GPUs taking into account memory coalescence problems, we take advantage of a graph representation based on a breadth-first search traversal that works harmoniously with our parallel front propagation approach. We report experiments that show how our method scales with the size of the problem. We compare the mean error and processing time obtained by our method with such measures computed using other methods. Our method produces results in competitive times with almost the same accuracy, especially for large meshes. We also demonstrate its use for solving two classical geometry processing problems: the regular sampling problem and the Voronoi tessellation on meshes.Comment: Preprint submitted to Computers & Graphic

Inconsistency within the Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

De las muchas interpretaciones de la mecánica cuántica (MC), pocas han sido tan divulgadas como la de Everett. Estaformulación se supone realista y libre de los problemas que aquejan a la interpretación de Copenhague. En el presentetrabajo, mostramos los problemas semántico-ontológicos que implican las formulaciones actuales de estainterpretación y discutimos el problema que presenta con respecto a las cantidades conservadas y las simetríassubyacentes al modelo de espacio-tiempo adoptado. Concluimos que en sus expresiones usuales, la teoría de Everett esinconsistente.Perhaps the most exotic interpretation of quantum mechanics is the so-called Everett interpretation. It was first conceived as an overcoming proposal to Copenhagen formulation of QM, free of the problems of the latter and with a realistic approach. In this paper, we show the several semantic and ontological problems in the current formulations of this interpretation, and we discuss the critical problem of the conserved quantities and the assumptions on the spacetime symmetries in the theory. We conclude that Everett interpretation and its many modern reformulations are inconsistent.Fil: Combi, Luciano. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Gustavo Esteban. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; Argentin

Is Teleparallel Gravity Really Equivalent to General Relativity?

An axiomatization of the so-called Teleparallel Equivalent to General Relativity is presented. A set of formal and semantic postulates are elaborated from where the physical meaning of various key concepts of the theory are clarified. These concepts include those of inertia, Lorentz and diffeomorphism invariance, and reference frame. It is shown that Teleparallel Gravity admits a wider representation of space-time than General Relativity, allowing to define properties of the gravitational field such as energy and momentum that are usually considered problematic. In this sense, although the dynamical equations of both theories are equivalent, their inequivalence from a physical point of view is demonstrated. Finally, the axiomatic formulation is used to compare Teleparallel Gravity with other theories of gravity based on absolute parallelism such as non-local and f(T) gravity.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Gravitational energy and radiation of a charged black hole

We analyze the energy configuration of a charged black hole in the TeleparallelFramework of General Relativity. We obtain the energy-momentum tensor of the gravitationalfield in a stationary frame, and we calculate its contribution to the total energyof the system. We study the same gravitational field measured by an accelerated frameand we analyze how the energy-momentum tensor is transformed. We found that in theaccelerated frame, a Poyinting-like flux appears for the gravitational field but not for theelectromagnetic field.Instituto Argentino de RadioastronomíaFacultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Relativistic rigid systems and the cosmic expansion

We analyze the necessary conditions for a body to remain rigid in an expanding cosmological Universe. First, we establish the main theorems and definitions for having a rigid body in a general spacetime as well as the new concept of quasilocal rigidity. We apply the obtained results to a homogeneous universe exploring the differences with flat spacetime. We discuss how the concept of rigid body helps to understand the expansion of space in cosmology. Finally, using a rigid system as a reference frame, we calculate the gravitational energy, and we compare it with previous results in the literature.Fil: Combi, Luciano. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Gustavo Esteban. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; Argentin

Dictionary Learning-based Inpainting on Triangular Meshes

The problem of inpainting consists of filling missing or damaged regions in images and videos in such a way that the filling pattern does not produce artifacts that deviate from the original data. In addition to restoring the missing data, the inpainting technique can also be used to remove undesired objects. In this work, we address the problem of inpainting on surfaces through a new method based on dictionary learning and sparse coding. Our method learns the dictionary through the subdivision of the mesh into patches and rebuilds the mesh via a method of reconstruction inspired by the Non-local Means method on the computed sparse codes. One of the advantages of our method is that it is capable of filling the missing regions and simultaneously removes noise and enhances important features of the mesh. Moreover, the inpainting result is globally coherent as the representation based on the dictionaries captures all the geometric information in the transformed domain. We present two variations of the method: a direct one, in which the model is reconstructed and restored directly from the representation in the transformed domain and a second one, adaptive, in which the missing regions are recreated iteratively through the successive propagation of the sparse code computed in the hole boundaries, which guides the local reconstructions. The second method produces better results for large regions because the sparse codes of the patches are adapted according to the sparse codes of the boundary patches. Finally, we present and analyze experimental results that demonstrate the performance of our method compared to the literature

Medidas para a inclusão de minorias no ambiente de trabalho e seus impactos sociais e econômicos : um estudo de caso

Em uma sociedade onde as pautas de minoria estão cada vez mais presentes, a discussão das medidas de inclusão dessas minorias no ambiente de trabalho ganham importância. Nesse estudo de caso, uma empresa X de tecnologia será parte de um estudo de caso para entendermos como se dá a diversidade no ambiente de trabalho. Entendermos as origens de diversos grupos de minoria é importante para entendermos como se fazem medidas para a inclusão efetiva deses grupos. A inclusão de pessoas diversas não é apenas uma forma de estarmos retratando a sociedade dentro das empresas, mas também uma forma de todas as pessoas de uma empresa aprenderem e empatizarem com os diversos grupos. Essa inclusão precisa ser feita por medidas pensadas para cada grupo diverso, que possui suas próprias particularidades, além de ser importante pensarmos no desenvolvimento social de todas as pessoas (inclusive as que aprendem ao conviverem com pessoas diversas) e técnico-profissional das pessoas diversas. O trabalho conclui que a empresa X não apenas garante um ambiente de trabalho diverso e seguro como oferece oportunidades para essas pessoas.In a society where minority agendas are increasingly present, discussion of the measures of inclusion of these minorities in the workplace is important. In this case study, a technology company will be part of a case study to understand how diversity in the work environment occurs. Understanding the origins of various minority groups is important to understand how measures are taken to effectively include these groups. The inclusion of diverse people is not only a way of portraying society within companies, but also a way for all the people in a company to learn and empathize with different groups. This inclusion needs to be made by measures designed for each diverse group, which has its own particularities, and it is important to think about the social development of all people (including those who learn to live with different people) and technical-professional of different people. The work concludes that company X not only guarantees a diverse and safe working environment but offers opportunities for these people