Identification of the local productive systems in Spain: a new approach

Paper submitted to the 44th European Congress of the European Regional Science Association, Porto, 25-29 August 2004.

Capacitación turística en comunidades indígenas. Un caso de Investigación Acción Participativa (IAP)

La literatura académica subraya la importancia de involucrar a la comunidad en los procesos de capacitación turística. Sin embargo, apenas hay reflexiones sobre cómo diseñar e implementar la formación en áreas rurales y remotas. En este trabajo se exponen las cuatro fases de un ciclo de Investigación Acción Participativa (IAP), desarrollada en la Selva Lacandona de México con la colaboración de los grupos originarios lacandones y ch’oles. El objetivo de estudio fue la capacitación humana en las áreas de sistemas turísticos, interpretación del patrimonio natural y cultural, y creación de producto. Todo ello complementado con una capacitación específica para mujeres y jóvenes, grupos tradicionalmente relegados en estas comunidades. El relato de las distintas fases de la IAP nos muestra cómo el conocimiento ancestral es la base para una capacitación turística sólida. La involucración de jóvenes estudiantes en los procesos de formación en comunidades, los formatos adaptados a los contextos locales, y los ejercicios de reciprocidad científica, sirven además para la revitalización cultural, el refuerzo de la autoestima y el desarrollo endógeno de los pueblos indígenas.

A economia solidária sob a perspectiva do desenvolvimento endógeno: o caso da cooperativa de coleta seletiva e reciclagem amigos do planeta - Lauro de Freitas/BA (2004/2013)

In recent decades, the collective leadership of the Solidary Economical Enterprises (ESS) that are active in providing collection and recycling services, has been presented as a proposal for the organization of urban space with the creation of new enterprises and solidarity production chains. Are activities that have gained a new stimulus to the creation of the National Secretariat of Solidarity Economy and the National Policy on Solid Waste that assigned a leading role in these social actors. These experiences contribute to building a participatory development path, resembling with the pluralistic perspective of development of the Indian economist Amartya Sen, that goes beyond the simplistic design of the increased income, focusing on the process of expanding freedoms that people enjoy. The aim of this work is to situate the perspective of endogenous development with the Collection Services segment and Material Recycling in the field of Solidarity Economy, through the analysis of the experience of the Cooperative of Selective Collection and Recycling Friends of the planet, located in the municipality of Lauro to Freitas - BA, from 2004 to 2013. for this the following procedures were adopted: analysis of the main contributions of the international literature on the phenomenon of pluriactivity; review of national literature that analyzes the emergence and evolution of the projects of solidarity economy in Brazil; bibliographical and documentary research; and socio-economic evaluation of the EES. The guiding problem of this work, understandably, is: what is the meaning of endogenous perspective with the Materials Collection and Recycling Services segment in the field of Solidarity Economy? It starts with the hypothesis that the development of these practices requires an environment that removes the main sources of deprivation involving the conditions of existence of these enterprises. The results show that not enough development to be built with the participation of social actors, but there are minimally necessary conditions for such experiences can take hold in order to achieve their goals. Thus, not only is it a strictly economic issue, but requires political actions for a process of social transformation.

La buena hora del desarrollo local: un diagnóstico sobre los factores que afectan el capital social, el desarrollo local y la participación en el barrio Juan XXIII en Medellín

Este trabajo de tesis pretende abordar en el primer capítulo el problema que se vive localmente en la periferia de la ciudad de Medellín en donde las políticas públicas que son implementadas desde la municipalidad en los territorios administrativos no siempre dejan capacidades instaladas en las comunidades territoriales, en especial las de generación de empleo y emprendimiento -- Se analiza también la dificultad de convocatoria de la ciudadanía, que no logra participar activamente tanto en los programas ofrecidos como en la generación de propuestas participativas -- En este capítulo se evidencia la necesidad de activar el capital social a través de iniciativas locales de fortalecimiento del voluntariado a través de transacciones no monetarizadas -- Se plantea la necesidad de detectar redes de confianza, de reconocer potencialidades y talentos para potenciar ese capital social, y se analiza la propuesta de implementación de una estrategia como herramienta para el diagnóstico y lectura de la realidad, a una comunidad de un territorio específico de la ciudad desde sus propias experiencias -- En el capítulo tres se revisan los conceptos de desarrollo humano, desarrollo a escala humana y desarrollo local, así como el de capital social como indicadores de bienestar social, y la relación de éstos con la participación ciudadana y la política pública -- En los siguientes capítulos se presentan los resultados y las conclusiones de la investigación y se hacen algunas recomendaciones para implementaciones futuras que podrían orientar perspectivas empíricas que sustenten programas y políticas públicas coherentes con las exigencias locales

América Latina y el Caribe: Variables de competitividad para la dinámica empresarial 2007 - 2014

Este estudio realiza una categorización regional de los países en América Latina con respecto de las categorizaciones globales teniendo en cuenta los índices de competitividad, crecimiento económico y desarrollo humano. El objetivo es actualizar los análisis sobre la situación regional de forma cuantitativa involucrando el grado de asimetría en la competitividad. Esta relación entre el posicionamiento global y regional ha influenciado directamente la evolución del tejido empresarial

Endogenous abscisic acid and protein contents during seed development of Araucaria angustifolia

This paper describes a proteome analysis and changes in endogenous abscisic acid (ABA) contents during seed development of Araucaria angustifolia (Bert.) O. Ktze. Megagametophytes and embryonic axis tissues exhibited a similar ABA variation pattern during seed development, reaching maximum values at the pre-cotyledonary stage. The embryonic axis protein content increased until the cotyledonary stage with following stabilization at mature seed. The two-dimensional electrophoresis at the torpedo developmental stage showed approximately 230 polypeptides against 340 in the mature stage. Peptide mass fingerprinting analyses identified three polypeptides, corresponding to an AtSAC4, a late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) and a storage protein, respectively.

Development of micro-electrospray mass spectrometry for ultra high sensitivity and application in the study of drugs of abuse on endogenous \lbrack Met\rbrack $\sp5$-enkephalin release

A micro-electrospray interface was developed specifically for the neurobiological applications described in this dissertation. Incorporation of a unique nano-flow liquid chromatography micro-electrospray "needle" into the micro-electrospray interface (micro-ES/MS) increased the sensitivity of the mass spectrometric assay by $\sim$1000 fold and thus permitted the first analysis of specific neuroactive compounds in brain extracellular fluid collected by in vivo microdialysis (Md).^ Initial in vivo data presented deals with the pharmacodynamics of a novel GABA$\sb{\rm B}$ antagonist and the availability of the compound in its parent (unmetabolized) form to the brain of the anesthetized rat. Next, the first structurally specific endogenous release of (Met) $\sp5$-enkephalin was demonstrated in unanesthetized freely-moving animals (release of $\sim$6.5 fmole of (Met) $\sp5$-enkephalin into the dialysate by direct neuronal depolarization). The Md/micro-ES/MS system was used to test the acute effects of drugs of abuse on the endogenous release of (Met) $\sp5$-enkephalin from the globus pallidus/ventral pallidum brain region in rats. Four drugs known to be abused by man (morphine, cocaine, methamphetamine and diazepam) were tested. Morphine and cocaine both elicited a two-fold or more increase in the release of (Met) $\sp5$-enkephalin over vehicle controls. Diazepam elicited a small decrease in (Met) $\sp5$-enkephalin levels and methamphetamine showed no significant effect on (Met) $\sp5$-enkephalin. These results imply that (Met) $\sp5$-enkephalin may be involved in the reward pathway of certain drugs of abuse. ^

HUMAN ENDOGENOUS RETROVIRUS K AS A NOVEL TUMOR-ASSOCIATED ANTIGEN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AN OVARIAN CANCER VACCINE

HUMAN ENDOGENOUS RETROVIRUS K AS A NOVEL TUMOR-ASSOCIATED ANTIGEN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AN OVARIAN CANCER VACCINE Publication No.________Kiera Rycaj, B.S.Supervisory Professor: Feng Wang-Johanning, Ph.D., M.D. Ovarian cancer (OC) is the fourth most common cancer in women, and the most lethal gynecologic malignancy in the United States. Adequate screening methodologies are currently lacking and most women first present with either stage III or IV disease. To date, there has been no substantial decrease in death rates and the majorities of patients relapse and die from their disease despite response to first-line therapy. Several proteins, such as CA-125, are elevated in OC, but none has proven specific and sensitive enough to serve as a screening tool or for tumor cell recognition and lysis. It has been proposed that human endogenous retrovirus sequences (HERVs) may play a role in the etiology of certain cancers. In a previous study, we showed that HERV-K envelope (env) proteins are widely expressed in human invasive breast cancer (BC) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and elicit both serologic and cell-mediated immune responses in BC patients. We also reported the expression of multiple HERV genes and proteins in OC cell lines and tissues. In this study, we strengthened our previous data by determining that HERV-K env mRNAs are expressed in 69% of primary OC tissues (n=29), but in only 24% of benign tissues (N=17). Immmunohistochemistry (IHC) staining revealed HERV-Kpositivecancer cells detected in endometrioid adenocarcinoma and serous adenocarcinoma but not in benign cyst or normal epithelium biopsies. Immunofluorescence staining (IFS) showed greater cell surface expression of HERV-K in OC samples compared to adjacent uninvolved samples. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) data confirmed that a humoral immune response is elicited against HERV-K in OC patients. T-cell responses against HERV-K in lymphocytes from OC patients stimulated with autologous HERV-K pulsed dendritic cells included induction of T-cell proliferation and IFN-γ production. HERV-K–specific cytolytic T cells induced greater specific lysis of OC target cells compared to benign and adjacent uninvolved target cells. Finally, upon T regulatory cell (T-reg) depletion, 64% of OC patients displayed an increase in the specific lysis of target cells expressing HERV-K env protein. These findings suggest that HERV-K env protein is a tumor-associated antigen capable of activating both T-cell and B-cell responses in OC patients, and has great potential in the development of immunotherapy regimens against OC.

Endogenous Msx1 antisense transcript: In vivo and in vitro evidences, structure, and potential involvement in skeleton development in mammals

Msx1 is a key factor for the development of tooth and craniofacial skeleton and has been proposed to play a pivotal role in terminal cell differentiation. In this paper, we demonstrated the presence of an endogenous Msx1 antisense RNA (Msx1-AS RNA) in mice, rats, and humans. In situ analysis revealed that this RNA is expressed only in differentiated dental and bone cells with an inverse correlation with Msx1 protein. These in vivo data and overexpression of Msx1 sense and AS RNA in an odontoblastic cell line (MO6-G3) showed that the balance between the levels of the two Msx1 RNAs is related to the expression of Msx1 protein. To analyze the impact of this balance in the Msx-Dlx homeoprotein pathway, we analyzed the effect of Msx1, Msx2, and Dlx5 overexpression on proteins involved in skeletal differentiation. We showed that the Msx1-AS RNA is involved in crosstalk between the Msx-Dlx pathways because its expression was abolished by Dlx5. Msx1 was shown to down-regulate a master gene of skeletal cells differentiation, Cbfa1. All these data strongly suggest that the ratio between Msx1 sense and antisense RNAs is a very important factor in the control of skeletal terminal differentiation. Finally, the initiation site for Msx1-AS RNA transcription was located by primer extension in both mouse and human in an identical region, including a consensus TATA box, suggesting an evolutionary conservation of the AS RNA-mediated regulation of Msx1 gene expression.

Leadership and institutional factors in endogenous regional economic development

Literature on the relationship between leadership and entrepreneurship as it applies to endogenous growth in a regional context is reviewed and used to explore a research agenda for work on this topic. A leadership/entrepreneurship analytical approach is developed and applied on a pilot basis to the Greater Washington D.C. region and its sub-parts. The results are assessed and used to further refine the model and to identify some of the more provocative policy implications of this work. The implications for regional planning process are also considered.