El rol del Centro de Estudios Estrat��gicos de Defensa de la Uni��n de Naciones Suramericanas en la formaci��n de un pensamiento estrat��gico regional

El presente estudio de caso analiza los aportes del Centro de Estudios Estrat��gicos de Defensa (CEED) de la Uni��n de Naciones Suramericanas (Unasur) en la formaci��n de un pensamiento estrat��gico regional. Cuatro a��os han transcurrido desde la creaci��n de dicho Centro, por lo que resulta pertinente estudiar sus principales logros y los aportes realizados al Consejo de Defensa Suramericano (CDS) para la formaci��n de un pensamiento estrat��gico regional en materia de seguridad y defensa.

La alianza de estados insulares peque��os y la securitizaci��n del cambio clim��tico en la convenci��n marco de Naciones Unidas sobre cambio clim��tico (1992-2012)

La presente monograf��a busca explicar el proceso de securitizaci��n realizado por la AOSIS del cambio clim��tico en las COP de la CMNUCC. Esta investigaci��n defiende que la AOSIS s�� ha hecho dicho proceso a trav��s de estrategias como el liderazgo moral y los nexos con actores no-estatales; pero dicho proceso no ha sido exitoso, dado el predominio del discurso del desarrollo sostenible en las negociaciones, el debilitamiento de la AOSIS como actor securitizador y el poco apoyo formal de las potencias emergentes y el bloque UMBRELLA. Para sustentar lo anterior, se realizar�� una revisi��n de informes cient��ficos que demuestran que el cambio clim��tico es una amenaza a la seguridad, y un estudio desde de la teor��a de securitizaci��n de Thierry Balzacq, de los discursos dados por los estados AOSIS, de las COP y de las posiciones de algunos bloques de negociaci��n sobre el cambio clim��tico.

Remesas y desarrollo econ��mico. Un an��lisis emp��rico del caso mexicano

El objetivo de este trabajo es contribuir a identificar el efecto de las remesas que env��an los emigrantes a sus comunidades de origen en M��xico. Del mismo modo, se estudia el efecto que la participaci��n de la mujer tiene en este proceso. La fuente de informaci��n es el Consejo Nacional de Poblaci��n de M��xico CONAPO y contiene variables a nivel estatal y municipal para el a��o 2000. La base de datos contiene ��ndices de desarrollo humano, intensidad migratoria y remesas para los 2443 municipios mexicanos. La evidencia emp��rica sugiere que las remesas tienen un impacto positivo sobre los niveles de desarrollo de las comunidades receptoras. No obstante, la relaci��n entre remesas y desarrollo es no lineal. Adicionalmente, se en contr�� que el efecto positivo que tienen las remesas sobre el desarrollo es m��s alto cuando la cabeza de familia de los hogares receptores es mujer.

Las implicaciones geopol��ticas de la construcci��n del Canal de Nicaragua para el vecindario del Caribe Occidental (2006-2014)

El presente estudio de caso, busca explicar cu��les son las posibles implicaciones e influencia de la construcci��n del Proyecto del Canal de Nicaragua en la geograf��a, la econom��a y la pol��tica exterior del Caribe Occidental. Esta investigaci��n defiende que la construcci��n de este canal influir�� en el largo plazo en la geopol��tica de esta regi��n, debido a la posibilidad de una competencia hasta hoy inexistente en la regi��n entre dos canales interoce��nicos, que puede llegar a afectar la disponibilidad de recursos naturales de la subregi��n, y asimismo, fortalecer la presencia asi��tica en Am��rica Latina; sin embargo, las consecuencias de este canal no pueden determinarse de manera espec��fica. Para sustentar lo anterior, se realizar�� una revisi��n del proceso de construcci��n del canal de Panam�� y del proyecto del de Nicaragua, para establecer un estudio de prospectiva de los escenarios posibles para la regi��n del Caribe Occidental.

Elizabeth Bishop���s sounds of sanity

In this article, I examine the implications of rewriting definitions of sanity and insanity through the use of noise, silence, and language,positioningElizabeth Bishop���s short story ���In the Village��� as a form of resistance against traditional readings of madness, logocentrism, and identity. I suggest that by writing her characters as undivided from the world of sound, Elizabeth Bishop���s story shifts understandings of insanity, which is often conceptualized through denials of agency, allowing her characters to escape in noises and hesitations in language and communication. ���In the Village��� avoids silencing the ���insane��� mother through her placement in a caesura of sound and silence. This article avoids a biographical reading of ���In the Village,��� which is often connected with her own mother���s ���mental breakdown,��� because Bishop���s writing would have been as much affected by her conscious awareness of her past as it was by the unconscious impulses and histories of writing in the West. Rather, I take into account Bishop���s own personal history as well as the repetitions that reflect a placement in a tradition appearing in the story itself. Using this particular lens, I believe a rereading of ���In the Village��� is in order, where the ���mad mother��� is not silenced by the oppressive social structures that control the insane,��� but she instead finds escape in the multitudes of sounds that associate with her, erasing the power of language and opening a new world where agency exists in a scream or in a striking hammer.

Procesos: revista ecuatoriana de historia. 39 (SOLO LIBROS/Rese��as)

Presenta las rese��as de los siguientes libros: Eloy Alfaro. Narraciones hist��ricas. Quito: Universidad Andina Sim��n Bol��var, Sede Ecuador / Corporaci��n Editora Nacional, 2012, 368 pp . -- Adolfo Le��n Atehort��a Cruz. Germ��n Colmenares. Una Nueva Historia. Cali: Universidad del Valle, 2013, 161 pp . -- Fernando Chuquimia Bonifaz. Las Sociedades de Socorros Mutuos y Beneficencia en La Paz, 1883-1920. La Paz: Centro de Estudios para la Am��rica Andina y Amaz��nica, 2013, 255 pp . -- Eliga H. Gould. Among the Powers of the Earth. The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012, 301 pp.

Mapping the landscape of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus stable signal peptide reveals novel functional domains

The stable signal peptide (SSP) of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus surface glycoprotein precursor has several unique characteristics. The SSP is unusually long, at 58 amino acids, and contains two hydrophobic domains, and its sequence is highly conserved among both Old and New World arenaviruses. To better understand the functions of the SSP, a panel of point and deletion mutants was created by in vitro mutagenesis to target the highly conserved elements within the SSP. We were also able to confirm critical residues required for separate SSP functions by trans-complementation. Using these approaches, it was possible to resolve functional domains of the SSP. In characterizing our SSP mutants, we discovered that the SSP is involved in several distinct functions within the viral life cycle, beyond translocation of the viral surface glycoprotein precursor into the endoplasmic reticulum lumen. The SSP is required for efficient glycoprotein expression, posttranslational maturation cleavage of GP1 and GP2 by SKI-1/S1P protease, glycoprotein transport to the cell surface plasma membrane, formation of infectious virus particles, and acid pH-dependent glycoprotein-mediated cell fusion.

Entering dystopia, entering Erewhon

Abandon hope all ye who enter here: a society cannot be truly dystopian if travellers can come and go freely. Anti-utopias and 'satirical utopias' - that is, societies considered perfect by their advocates but not by the implied reader - must be well-regulated enough to prevent the possible disruption caused by a visitor. There is no exit at all from the classic twentieth-century dystopias, which end either in an actual death, like that of the Savage in Huxley's Brave New World (1932), or in a spiritual death like Winston Smith's in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Any glimmers of hope that the protagonist may have felt are quickly destroyed.

Reconciling biodiversity and carbon conservation

Climate change is leading to the development of land-based mitigation and adaptation strategies that are likely to have substantial impacts on global biodiversity. Of these, approaches to maintain carbon within existing natural ecosystems could have particularly large benefits for biodiversity. However, the geographical distributions of terrestrial carbon stocks and biodiversity differ. Using conservation planning analyses for the New World and Britain, we conclude that a carbon-only strategy would not be effective at conserving biodiversity, as have previous studies. Nonetheless, we find that a combined carbon-biodiversity strategy could simultaneously protect 90% of carbon stocks (relative to a carbon-only conservation strategy) and > 90% of the biodiversity (relative to a biodiversity-only strategy) in both regions. This combined approach encapsulates the principle of complementarity, whereby locations that contain different sets of species are prioritised, and hence disproportionately safeguard localised species that are not protected effectively by carbon-only strategies. It is efficient because localised species are concentrated into small parts of the terrestrial land surface, whereas carbon is somewhat more evenly distributed; and carbon stocks protected in one location are equivalent to those protected elsewhere. Efficient compromises can only be achieved when biodiversity and carbon are incorporated together within a spatial planning process.

Fire-free land use in pre-1492 Amazonian savannas

The nature and scale of pre-Columbian land use and the consequences of the 1492 ���Columbian Encounter��� (CE) on Amazonia are among the more debated topics in New World archaeology and paleoecology. However, pre-Columbian human impact in Amazonian savannas remains poorly understood. Most paleoecological studies have been conducted in neotropical forest contexts. Of studies done in Amazonian savannas, none has the temporal resolution needed to detect changes induced by either climate or humans before and after A.D. 1492, and only a few closely integrate paleoecological and archaeological data. We report a high-resolution 2,150-y paleoecological record from a French Guianan coastal savanna that forces reconsideration of how pre-Columbian savanna peoples practiced raised-field agriculture and how the CE impacted these societies and environments. Our combined pollen, phytolith, and charcoal analyses reveal unexpectedly low levels of biomass burning associated with pre-A.D. 1492 savanna raised-field agriculture and a sharp increase in fires following the arrival of Europeans. We show that pre-Columbian raised-field farmers limited burning to improve agricultural production, contrasting with extensive use of fire in pre-Columbian tropical forest and Central American savanna environments, as well as in present-day savannas. The charcoal record indicates that extensive fires in the seasonally flooded savannas of French Guiana are a post-Columbian phenomenon, postdating the collapse of indigenous populations. The discovery that pre-Columbian farmers practiced fire-free savanna management calls into question the widely held assumption that pre-Columbian Amazonian farmers pervasively used fire to manage and alter ecosystems and offers fresh perspectives on an emerging alternative approach to savanna land use and conservation that can help reduce carbon emissions.

Crocodiles in the regulatory swamp: navigating the dangers of outsourcing, SaaS and shadow IT

Corporates are entering the brave new world of the internet and digitization without much regard for the fine print of a growing regulation regime. More traditional outsourcing arrangements are already falling foul of the regulators as rules and supervision intensifies. Furthermore, ���shadow IT��� is proliferating as the attractions of SaaS, mobile, cloud services, social media, and endless new ���apps��� drive usage outside corporate IT. Initial cost-benefit analyses of the Cloud make such arrangements look immediately attractive but losing control of architecture, security, applications and deployment can have far reaching and damaging regulatory consequences. From research in financial services, this paper details the increasing body of regulations, their inherent risks for businesses and how the dangers can be pre-empted and managed. We then delineate a model for managing these risks specifically focused on investigating, strategizing and governing outsourcing arrangements and related regulatory obligations

Natural Plasmodium infections in Brazilian wild monkeys: Reservoirs for human infections?

Four hundred and forty-eight samples of total blood from wild monkeys living in areas where human autochthonous malaria cases have been reported were screened for the presence of Plasmodium using microscopy and PCR analysis. Samples came from the following distinct ecological areas of Brazil: Atlantic forest (N = 140), semideciduous Atlantic forest (N = 257) and Cerrado (a savannah-like habitat) (N = 51). Thick and thin blood smears of each specimen were examined and Plasmodium infection was screened by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (multiplex PCR). The frequency of Plasmodium infections detected by PCR in Alouatta guariba clamitans in the Sao Paulo Atlantic forest was 11.3% or 8/71 (5.6% for Plasmodium malariae and 5.6% for Plasmodium vivax) and one specimen was positive for Plasmodium falciparum (1.4%); Callithrix sp. (N = 30) and Cebus apella (N = 39) specimens were negative by PCR tests. Microscopy analysis was negative for all specimens from the Atlantic forest. The positivity rate for Alouatta caraya from semideciduous Atlantic forest was 6.8% (16/235) in the PCR tests (5.5, 0.8 and 0.4% for P. malariae, P. falciparum and P. vivax, respectively), while C apella specimens were negative. Parasitological examination of I he samples using thick smears revealed Plasmodium sp. infections in only seven specimens, which had few parasites (3.0%). Monkeys from the Cerrado (a savannah-like habitat) (42 specimens of A. caraya, 5 of Callithrix jacchus and 4 of C. apella) were negative in both tests. The parasitological prevalence of P. vivax and P. malariae in wild monkeys from Atlantic forest and semideciduous Atlantic forest and the finding of a positive result for P.falciparum in Alouatta from both types of forest support the hypothesis that monkeys belonging to this genus could be a potential reservoir. Furthermore, these findings raise the question of the relationship between simian and autochthonous human malaria in extra-Amazonian regions. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A molecular phylogeny of the stingless bee genus Melipona (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Stingless bees (Meliponini) constitute a diverse group of highly eusocial insects that occur throughout tropical regions around the world. The meliponine genus Melipona is restricted to the New World tropics and has over 50 described species. Melipona, like Apis, possesses the remarkable ability to use representational communication to indicate the location of foraging patches. Although Melipona has been the subject of numerous behavioral, ecological, and genetic studies, the evolutionary history of this genus remains largely unexplored. Here, we implement a multigene phylogenetic approach based on nuclear, mitochondrial, and ribosomal loci, coupled with molecular clock methods, to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships and antiquity of subgenera and species of Melipona. Our phylogenetic analysis resolves the relationship among subgenera and tends to agree with morphology-based classification hypotheses. Our molecular clock analysis indicates that the genus Melipona shared a most recent common ancestor at least similar to 14-17 million years (My) ago. These results provide the groundwork for future comparative analyses aimed at understanding the evolution of complex communication mechanisms in eusocial Apidae. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.