Absolute and relative deprivation and the measurement of poverty

This paper develops the link between poverty and inequality by focussing on a class of poverty indices (some of them well-known) which aggregate normative concerns for absolute and relative deprivation. The indices are distinguished by a parameter that captures the ethical sensitivity of poverty measurement to ``exclusion'' or ``relative-deprivation'' aversion. We also show how the indices can be readily used to predict the impact of growth on poverty. An illustration using LIS data finds that he United States show more relative deprivation than Denmark and Belgium whatever the percentiles considered, but that overall deprivation comparisons of the four countries considered will generally necessarily depend on the intensity of the ethical concern for relative deprivation. The impact of growth on poverty is also seen to depend on the presence of and on the attention granted to concerns over relative deprivation. }

Stability of periodic solutions obtained via the averaging method for nonsmooth Lipschitz system

"Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt."

The Experience of European Integration and the Potential for Integration in South America

The experience of the European Union is the most significant and far-reaching among all attempts at regional integration. It is, therefore, the most likely to provide some lessons for those world regions that are just beginning this complex process. In turn, the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and the Andean Community (CAN) are among the regional integration projects that have reached the greatest level of formal accomplishment after the EU. MERCOSUR is a customs union that aspires to become a common market, while avowing the commitment to advance towards political integration. For its part, CAN is a customs union that has already developed supranational institutions such as a Commission, a Parliament and a Court of Justice. In both cases, however, words have progressively tended to wander far from deeds. One reason underlying this phenomenon may be a misunderstanding of the European experience with integration. In this article, we discuss the theories that have been developed to account for integration in Europe and may prove useful to understand integration elsewhere and put forward a set of lessons that could be drawn from the European experience. Subsequently, we introduce a description of the experience of integration in South America and reflect (critically) on how the theories and lessons drawn from the EU could be applied to this region –and beyond.

Rosca participation in Benin: a commitment issue

In the light of first-hand data from a Beninese urban household survey in Cotonou, we investigate several motives aiming to explain participation in Rotating Savings and Credit Associations. We provide anecdotal pieces of evidence, descriptive statistics, FIML regressions and matching estimates which tend to indicate that most individuals use their participation in a rosca as a device to commit themselves to save money and to deal with self-control problems.

Leishmaniasis in Bolivia: II. The involvement of Psychodopygus yucumensis and Psychodopygus llanosmartinsi in the selvatic transmission cycle of Leishmania braziliensis braziliensis in a lowland subandean region

An epidemiological survey of the vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis ("espúndia" type) was caried out in the Alto Beni region of Bolivia, an area of Andean foothills at the Eastern limit of the Amazonian lowlands. The climate is typical wet tropical (15ºS latitude). Anthropophilic phlebotomine sandfly species were sampled at 20 sites, all forested. The importance of species from the Psychodopygus group, already suspected as a vector in the transmission of Leishmania from the braziliensis complex, was confirmed by: 1) the aggressiveness and diversity of the species encountered (83% of catches, nine species), 2) the discovery of a new anthropophilic species, P. yucumensis and 3) the isolation of a strain of Leishmania braziliensis braziliensis indistinguishable from human strains from the same area, from two species, P. llanosmartinsi and P. yucumensis.

Phlébotomes de Bolive: IV. Lutzomyia (Trichophoromyia) beniensis, n.sp. (Diptera, Psychodidae)

Les auteurs décrivent le mâle et la femelle de Lutzomyia (Trichophoromyia) beniensis n.sp., capturés dans le galerie forestiére du Rio Beni (Département du Beni). L'espèce n'est pas anthropophile mais aurait des appétences omithophiles.

Phlébotomes de Bolivie: V. Lutzomyia brisolai n.sp., nouvelle espèce de phlébotome anthropophile de région subandine (Diptera, Psychodidae)

Les auteurs décrivent le mâle et la femelle d'une nouvelle espèce de phlébotome Lutzomyia brisolai n.sp., anthropophile, rencontrée dans plusieurs stations du piémont andin. Cette espèce, difficile à classer, présente des caractères l'apparentant à L. oliveirai et L. minasensis mais aussi aux espèces du sous-genre Nyssomyia.

Phlébotomes de Bolivie: VI. Description de Lutzomyia (Trichopygomyia) gantieri n.sp. (Diptera, Psychodidae)

Les auteurs décrivent le mâle et la femelle d'une nouvelle espèce de phlébotome non anthropophile, appartenant au sous-genre Trichopygomyia Barreto, 1962 Lutzomyia gantieri n.sp., très proche de L. elegans Martins, Llanos et Silva 1976.

Critical mass for a Patlak-Keller-Segel model with degenerate diffusion in higher dimensions

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Characterizations of Lojasiewicz inequalities and applications

The classical Lojasiewicz inequality and its extensions for partial differential equation problems (Simon) and to o-minimal structures (Kurdyka) have a considerable impact on the analysis of gradient-like methods and related problems: minimization methods, complexity theory, asymptotic analysis of dissipative partial differential equations, tame geometry. This paper provides alternative characterizations of this type of inequalities for nonsmooth lower semicontinuous functions defined on a metric or a real Hilbert space. In a metric context, we show that a generalized form of the Lojasiewicz inequality (hereby called the Kurdyka- Lojasiewicz inequality) relates to metric regularity and to the Lipschitz continuity of the sublevel mapping, yielding applications to discrete methods (strong convergence of the proximal algorithm). In a Hilbert setting we further establish that asymptotic properties of the semiflow generated by -∂f are strongly linked to this inequality. This is done by introducing the notion of a piecewise subgradient curve: such curves have uniformly bounded lengths if and only if the Kurdyka- Lojasiewicz inequality is satisfied. Further characterizations in terms of talweg lines -a concept linked to the location of the less steepest points at the level sets of f- and integrability conditions are given. In the convex case these results are significantly reinforced, allowing in particular to establish the asymptotic equivalence of discrete gradient methods and continuous gradient curves. On the other hand, a counterexample of a convex C2 function in R2 is constructed to illustrate the fact that, contrary to our intuition, and unless a specific growth condition is satisfied, convex functions may fail to fulfill the Kurdyka- Lojasiewicz inequality.

Phlébotomes de Bolivie: III. Description de Lutzomyia andersoni n. sp. (Diptera, Psychodidae)

Les auteurs décrivent le mâle et la femelle de Lutzomyia andersoni n.sp., nouvelle espèce de phlébotome, non anthropophile, du groupe walkeri martins, Williams et Falcão, 1987 très apparentée à L. sericea Floch et Abonnenc, 1944.