Project manual and methodological guidelines for a study on the role of transnational banks in the external finance of Peru

Includes bibliography

Selected statistical indicators of Caribbean countries Vol. XXI

This year’s issue of the SSI features regional tables in the introductory section followed by summary country tables. As far as possible, a full series of economic and socio-economic indicators is given for all CDCC member States for the period 2001-2007. In addition, the data sources for each country are provided, thereby making this publication a good starting point for researchers who are interested in more detailed statistics. Every effort was made to ensure that those changes did not compromise the quality and usefulness of the publication. To ensure accessibility to the full data series, the complete series for each country is also available on a cd-rom. Access to these series can also be obtained through our website www.eclacpos.org . Finally, the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean wishes to extend sincerest appreciation to the national statistical offices and central banks for their timely submissions that contributed to the overall success of this publication

On the long standing issue of an R phi(2) coupling between gravity and a massless free scalar field

Using 2-body trees on a flat space background, it is shown that the actions A[g, φ] = (Latin small letter esh) d4x√-g [(R/2K) + (1/2)(gμν ∂μφ∂νφ + λRφ2)] and Ā[ḡ, φ̄] = (Latin small letter esh) d4x√ - ḡ [(R̄/2k) + (1/2) ḡμν∂μφ̄∂ νφ] describe the same theory at the tree-level in this case. We also demonstrate the quantum equivalence (at one-loop) of the barred and unbarred systems for λ == -1/6 (conformal coupling).

The Challenges of Psychology at Work in Mental Health: the drugs issue.

This article aims to show that the challenges of psychology in working with mental health in the field of drugs is traversed by both the conceptions molded by biopolitical forces (FOUCAULT) as the decadence of modern democracy (AGAMBEN), and visible features in the current treatment given in Brazil to issue of smoking (SILVA), as well as urbanistic projects such as the case of Luz district in São Paulo (LEITE & CASTRO). In this sense, it leads us to question about what is prohibited, about who actually suffers the punishment, in short, about what do we really take care when we take into account the Unheimlich (FREUD) and other social interdicts (BATAILLE).

Performance of six diagnostic tests to screen for Chagas disease in blood banks and prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection among donors with inconclusive serology screening based on the analysis of epidemiological variables

OBJECTIVE: The frequent occurrence of inconclusive serology in blood banks and the absence of a gold standard test for Chagas'disease led us to examine the efficacy of the blood culture test and five commercial tests (ELISA, IIF, HAI, c-ELISA, rec-ELISA) used in screening blood donors for Chagas disease, as well as to investigate the prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection among donors with inconclusive serology screening in respect to some epidemiological variables. METHODS: To obtain estimates of interest we considered a Bayesian latent class model with inclusion of covariates from the logit link. RESULTS: A better performance was observed with some categories of epidemiological variables. In addition, all pairs of tests (excluding the blood culture test) presented as good alternatives for both screening (sensitivity > 99.96% in parallel testing) and for confirmation (specificity > 99.93% in serial testing) of Chagas disease. The prevalence of 13.30% observed in the stratum of donors with inconclusive serology, means that probably most of these are non-reactive serology. In addition, depending on the level of specific epidemiological variables, the absence of infection can be predicted with a probability of 100% in this group from the pairs of tests using parallel testing. CONCLUSION: The epidemiological variables can lead to improved test results and thus assist in the clarification of inconclusive serology screening results. Moreover, all combinations of pairs using the five commercial tests are good alternatives to confirm results.

The reconstruction of skeletal movement: the soft tissue artefact issue

In 3D human movement analysis performed using stereophotogrammetric systems and skin markers, bone pose can only be estimated in an indirect fashion. During a movement, soft tissue deformations make the markers move with respect to the underlying bone generating soft tissue artefact (STA). STA has devastating effects on bone pose estimation and its compensation remains an open question. The aim of this PhD thesis was to contribute to the solution of this crucial issue. Modelling STA using measurable trial-specific variables is a fundamental prerequisite for its removal from marker trajectories. Two STA model architectures are proposed. Initially, a thigh marker-level artefact model is presented. STA was modelled as a linear combination of joint angles involved in the movement. This model was calibrated using ex-vivo and in-vivo STA invasive measures. The considerable number of model parameters led to defining STA approximations. Three definitions were proposed to represent STA as a series of modes: individual marker displacements, marker-cluster geometrical transformations (MCGT), and skin envelope shape variations. Modes were selected using two criteria: one based on modal energy and another on the selection of modes chosen a priori. The MCGT allows to select either rigid or non-rigid STA components. It was also empirically demonstrated that only the rigid component affects joint kinematics, regardless of the non-rigid amplitude. Therefore, a model of thigh and shank STA rigid component at cluster-level was then defined. An acceptable trade-off between STA compensation effectiveness and number of parameters can be obtained, improving joint kinematics accuracy. The obtained results lead to two main potential applications: the proposed models can generate realistic STAs for simulation purposes to compare different skeletal kinematics estimators; and, more importantly, focusing only on the STA rigid component, the model attains a satisfactory STA reconstruction with less parameters, facilitating its incorporation in an pose estimator.

Acknowledging linguistic diversity in a multicultural society: the issue of indigenous languages in Colombia.

Nowadays, modern society is gradually becoming multicultural. However, only in the last few years awareness on its importance has been raised. In the case of Colombia, multiculturalism has existed since the pre-Columbian period and today there are more than 80 ethnic groups and 65 indigenous languages in the country. The aim of this work is to illustrate the status of indigenous languages in Colombia and to enlighten about the importance of recognizing, protecting and strengthening the use of these native languages. Subsequent to this, it will be point out that linguistic diversity should be considered a resource and not a barrier to achieve unity in diversity. Finally, ethno-education will be presented as an adequate educational program that may guarantee an equal linguistic representation in the country.