Think Tanks and Poverty in Latin America: The role of thinkers in the marketplace of social policies in Argentina, Chile and Mexico

The high levels of poverty and inequity that affect a large portion of Latin American population is among the main issues that the region faces. According to CEPAL (2007), 36,5% of the population of the region (194 million) is below the poverty line, while 13,4% (71 million) is below the extreme poverty line. Even though this issue has been present in the public policy agenda for a long time, it is in the last decades that the repeated socio economic crisis that affected the region have significantly increased the concern for this issue. Without doubt, finding solutions for such a wide and complex matter -as is the lack of resources and opportunities of a great portion of the population- requires a significant effort, not only from governments and public bureaucracies, but also from a wider range of actors that can participate and offer alternatives to face and gradually solve the problem. In this context, social policies are of great relevance for helping reduce poverty, specially considering the weakening of formal labour as the main source of social integration. In this context, the role that different actors play, including government, academic institutions, think tanks or other civil society organizations constitutes an aspect that should be analyzed in greater depth. However, even though the significant relevance of social policies, and the increasing participation of different civil society institutions that produce knowledge and try to influence policy decisions, the ways in which these actors participate in the social policy process is a subject of study which has been insufficiently explored. The premise is that analyzing and better understanding the role and interests of all actors involved in the social public policy process leads to a better understanding the results obtained with such policies. Taking this into account, the objective of this research is to make a first approach in the analysis of the means and levels of involvement of think tanks and individual Experts in the area –specialists, academics, or professional researchers- in the different stages of social policy making in Latin America.Think Tanks; América Latina; pobreza; Gerardo Una; Carina Lupica; Luciano Strazza; Progresa; Plan Jefes y Jefas; Chile Solidario

"Hola, mi amor. Yo soy el lobo"

En este artículo se analiza la presencia del erotismo como tema central en la obra poética de Luis Alberto de Cuenca. Primeramente, se realiza una revisión crítica que comenta la presencia del elemento amoroso y erótico en la poesía cuenquista; y finalmente, se propone el estudio de un corpus poético para tratar de manera exhaustiva el argumento. This paper focuses on the presence of erotism as main theme in the poetic work of Luis Alberto de Cuenca. First of all, it presents a critical review about the presence of love and erotism in his poetry. Last but not least, it suggests a study of his poetic work with the aim of discussing the argument exhaustively.In questo articolo si analizza la presenza dell'erotismo come tema centrale nell'opera poetica di Luis Alberto de Cuenca. In primo luogo, si realizza una revisione critica che commetna la presenza dell'elemento amoroso ed erotico nella poesia dell'autore. Infine si propone uno studio del corpus poetico al fine di trattare l'argomento in maniera esaustiva.  This paper focuses on the presence of erotism as main theme in the poetic work of Luis Alberto de Cuenca. First of all, it presents a critical review about the presence of love and erotism in his poetry. Last but not least, it suggests a study of his poetic work with the aim of discussing the argument exhaustively

Economic and Environmental Evaluation of a Single-Story Steel Building in Its Life Cycle: A Comprehensive Analysis

In this study, the possibility of applying the Life Cycle Thinking approach to structural design, considering all aspects and phases of the structure's life, is investigated. The idea is to develop a procedure for the analysis of the economic and environmental impacts of structures in their life cycle, including not only ordinary costs along life cycle phases but also the extraordinary costs resulting from damage and anticipated end-of-life caused by unexpected natural hazards. The building performance under extraordinary conditions is calculated according to a time-based Loss Assessment Analysis. Such analysis provides the probable performance of a building and its components over a given period of time, considering all the hazardous events that can occur in that period, the probability of occurrence of each event, and the related effects. The outlined approach is applied to a case study of a single-story steel office building located in Italy. Two LC scenarios, having a duration of 2 years and 50 years, are considered. Results show that contributions of environmental impacts and benefits related to end-of-life management and economic losses for natural hazards are significant and not negligible. It is highlighted that the greatest challenge faced when using such a comprehensive approach is represented by data availability and representativeness that deeply limits the possibility of its implementation

Faccetta nera dell’Abissinia. Madame e meticci dopo la conquista dell’Etiopia

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Analisi geochimiche su materia organica (delta 13 C org) e indagini su framboidi di pirite come proxi di anossia della sezione Pignola 2, bacino di Lagonegro, Potenza

In the Carnian (Upper Triassic) a period of increasing rainfall, named Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), is evidenced by lithological changes in various successions in the world. The environmental change seems to be closely associated with a global carbon cycle perturbation that was identified in stratigraphic successions of the Southern Alps of Italy, Northern Calcareous Alps of Austria, Hungary, South China and UK. This thesis presents organic carbon isotope data and ocean redox condition based on framboidal pyrite from Pignola 2, a Carnian deep-water stratigraphic section. Organic carbon isotope data show two negative δ13Corg shift within the CPE. The first, of about 3.5‰, within the Julian 2, and the second, of about 2‰, at the Julian/Tuvalian boundary. The investigation of framboidal pyrite suggests anoxic condition at the base of the CPE. These observations verify that sedimentological changes related to the CPE coincide with the carbon cycle perturbation and therefore occurred synchronously also in the Pignola 2 section. The injection of light CO2 into the Carnian atmosphere-ocean system may have been directly responsible for both the recorded two negative δ13Corg shift and the increase in rainfall. The consequent increased continental weathering led to the transfer of large amounts of siliciclastics sediments into the basins, while the increased run-off and nutrient flux triggered the development of anoxiaope

Improvement of antitumor therapies based on vaccines and immune-checkpoint inhibitors by counteracting tumor-immunostimulationw

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors and antitumor vaccines may produce both tumor-inhibitory and tumor-stimulatory effects on growing tumors depending on the stage of tumor growth at which treatment is initiated. These paradoxical results are not necessarily incompatible with current tumor immunology but they might better be explained assuming the involvement of the phenomenon of tumor immunostimulation. This phenomenon was originally postulated on the basis that the immune response (IR) evoked in Winn tests by strong chemical murine tumors was not linear but biphasic, with strong IR producing inhibition and weak IR inducing stimulation of tumor growth. Herein, we extended those former observations to weak spontaneous murine tumors growing in pre-immunized, immune-competent and immune-depressed mice. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the interaction of specifical T cells and target tumor cells at low stimulatory ratios enhanced the production of chemokines aimed to recruit macrophages at the tumor site, which, upon activation of toll-like receptor 4 and p38 signaling pathways, would recruit and activate more macrophages and other inflammatory cells which would produce growth-stimulating signals leading to an accelerated tumor growth. On this basis, the paradoxical effects achieved by immunological therapies on growing tumors could be explained depending upon where the therapy-induced IR stands on the biphasic IR curve at each stage of tumor growth. At stages where tumor growth was enhanced (medium and large-sized tumors), counteraction of the tumor-immunostimulatory effect with anti-inflammatory strategies or, more efficiently, with selective inhibitors of p38 signaling pathways enabled the otherwise tumor-promoting immunological strategies to produce significant inhibition of tumor growth.Fil: Chiarella, Paula. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Vermeulen, Mónica. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Montagna, Daniela R.. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Vallecorsa, Pablo. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Strazza, Ariel Ramiro. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Meiss, Roberto P.. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Bustuoabad, Oscar D.. Retired; ArgentinaFil: Ruggiero, Raúl A.. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Prehn, Richmond T.. University Of Washington, Seattle

PLCε1 suppresses tumor growth by regulating murine T cell mobilization

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154282/1/cei13409.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154282/2/cei13409_am.pd

Think Tanks y Pobreza en América Latina: el rol de los pensadores en el mercado de las políticas sociales en Argentina, Chile y México

The high levels of poverty and inequity that affect a large portion of Latin American population is among the main issues that the region faces. According to CEPAL (2007), 36,5% of the population of the region (194 million) is below the poverty line, while 13,4% (71 million) is below the extreme poverty line. Even though this issue has been present in the public policy agenda for a long time, it is in the last decades that the repeated socio economic crisis that affected the region have significantly increased the concern for this issue. Without doubt, finding solutions for such a wide and complex matter -as is the lack of resources and opportunities of a great portion of the population- requires a significant effort, not only from governments and public bureaucracies, but also from a wider range of actors that can participate and offer alternatives to face and gradually solve the problem. In this context, social policies are of great relevance for helping reduce poverty, specially considering the weakening of formal labour as the main source of social integration. In this context, the role that different actors play, including government, academic institutions, think tanks or other civil society organizations constitutes an aspect that should be analyzed in greater depth. However, even though the significant relevance of social policies, and the increasing participation of different civil society institutions that produce knowledge and try to influence policy decisions, the ways in which these actors participate in the social policy process is a subject of study which has been insufficiently explored. The premise is that analyzing and better understanding the role and interests of all actors involved in the social public policy process leads to a better understanding the results obtained with such policies. Taking this into account, the objective of this research is to make a first approach in the analysis of the means and levels of involvement of think tanks and individual Experts in the area –specialists, academics, or professional researchers- in the different stages of social policy making in Latin America

Think Tanks y Pobreza en América Latina: el rol de los pensadores en el mercado de las políticas sociales en Argentina, Chile y México

The high levels of poverty and inequity that affect a large portion of Latin American population is among the main issues that the region faces. According to CEPAL (2007), 36,5% of the population of the region (194 million) is below the poverty line, while 13,4% (71 million) is below the extreme poverty line. Even though this issue has been present in the public policy agenda for a long time, it is in the last decades that the repeated socio economic crisis that affected the region have significantly increased the concern for this issue. Without doubt, finding solutions for such a wide and complex matter -as is the lack of resources and opportunities of a great portion of the population- requires a significant effort, not only from governments and public bureaucracies, but also from a wider range of actors that can participate and offer alternatives to face and gradually solve the problem. In this context, social policies are of great relevance for helping reduce poverty, specially considering the weakening of formal labour as the main source of social integration. In this context, the role that different actors play, including government, academic institutions, think tanks or other civil society organizations constitutes an aspect that should be analyzed in greater depth. However, even though the significant relevance of social policies, and the increasing participation of different civil society institutions that produce knowledge and try to influence policy decisions, the ways in which these actors participate in the social policy process is a subject of study which has been insufficiently explored. The premise is that analyzing and better understanding the role and interests of all actors involved in the social public policy process leads to a better understanding the results obtained with such policies. Taking this into account, the objective of this research is to make a first approach in the analysis of the means and levels of involvement of think tanks and individual Experts in the area –specialists, academics, or professional researchers- in the different stages of social policy making in Latin America

Solvencia fiscal para la sustentabilidad del gasto social: Un desafío pendiente en Argentina.

One of the recurring problems faced by fiscal policy in Argentina is the difficulty of achieving a balanced path of long-term fiscal performance. The incentives and pressures generated in periods of public spending growth to accelerate rapidly, surpassing the growth rate of the economy. On the contrary, when it slows, the impact on public finances and the need for adjustments which it implies minimizes the potential for public sector response, thus increasing the recessionary effect of the cycle. This has a negative effect on the provision of public goods and services provided by the state, especially on social spending. In this framework, the implementation of a fiscal rule for Argentina-saving resources in times of growth for use in periods of recession, thereby enabling sustainability over time in social services, remains a necessary reform. Both the successful experience of Chile's Structural Balance of 2000, as the negative results of the Argentina Fiscal Responsibility Law of 2004, are valuable lessons. Specifically, it is possible to observe that the success of a fiscal rule in a relevant way affect at least three aspects: a) the emergence conditions of the rule and the consensus among stakeholders; b) the operation dynamics of the Rule for the economic cycle and c) its strength and technical simplicity. Thus, we propose a new fiscal rule in Argentina, that sets the budget surplus achievement based on trend GDP and the creation of three specific funds to allocate the cash surplus: i) Retirement and Pension Fund (FJP), ii) Fund of Social Policy (FPS) and iii) Stabilization Fund (SF). With regard to the budget surplus target, it should be deemed a savings rate to be applied when GDP is above its trend level. A number that represents 1.5% of trend GDP, considering the strong current restrictions could be used as initial parameter. With respect to the resources distribution to the Funds, it is proposed to spend from the cash surplus the 1% of trend GDP to the FJP given the greater weight to the new future budget obligations, the 0.5% of trend GDP to the FPS, and the balance, if any, would become part of the FE. Although the biggest impact of economic and social crisis of 2001 were left behind, there remains the challenge of achieving medium and long term fiscal sustainability in a context where social challenges in the area increases. This proposal seeks to promote the discussion of this topic so relevant to the equitable development of Argentina