The Spanish Civil War in the twenty -first century peninsular narrative: Narrative endeavors towards a national reconciliation?

This dissertation analyzes six twenty-first century novels that reflect Spain's current intellectual trends on the Spanish Civil War, Francoism and the transition to a democratic system. These novels deal with the complex correlation between memory and amnesia caused by the traumatic events of the Civil War. Despite the abundance of literature on this topic, these writers insist on the need for the recovery of historical and collective memory in order to halt the negative historical revisionism of recent years. Beginning with the death of Francisco Franco, this work focuses on the historical-theoretical framework that leads to the development of this mnemonic narrative and outlines the politics of memory effectuated during the transitional period, a lieu de mémoire frequently revisited and examined by new generations of writers. The novels analyzed also call for the retelling of history from the perspective of everyday people and address the need to pay overdue homage to victims of the post-war era.^ This work concludes that, while the texts may be considered settings for posthumous tributes, they could likewise advocate for a national reconciliation. Thus, as this narrative reveals, by focusing more on the need for a work on memory than on political and ideological polarizations, the memory of restitution does not interfere with the memory of reconciliation. The writers in question are nonetheless aware that reconciliation cannot be based on a spurious amnesia. The first step, therefore, towards reconciliation is to achieve a legitimate dialogue with regard to the traumatic past, and literary works may offer a tenable path. ^

The market value implications of pension asset allocation

Pension funds have been part of the private sector since the 1850's. Defined Benefit pension plans [DB], where a company promises to make regular contributions to investment accounts held for participating employees in order to pay a promised lifelong annuity, are significant capital markets participants, amounting to 2.3 trillion dollars in 2010 (Federal Reserve Board, 2013). In 2006, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No.158 (SFAS 158), Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postemployment Plans, shifted information concerning funding status and pension asset/liability composition from disclosure in the footnotes to recognition in the financial statements. I add to the literature by being the first to examine the effect of recent pension reform during the financial crisis of 2008-09. This dissertation is comprised of three related essays. In my first essay, I investigate whether investors assign different pricing multiples to the various classes of pension assets when valuing firms. The pricing multiples on all classes of assets are significantly different from each other, but only investments in bonds and equities were value-relevant during the recent financial crisis. Consistent with investors viewing pension liabilities as liabilities of the firm, the pricing multiples on pension liabilities are significantly larger than those on non-pension liabilities. The only pension costs significantly associated with firm value are actual rate of return and interest expense. In my second essay, I investigate the role of accruals in predicting future cash flows, extending the Barth et al. (2001a) model of the accrual process. Using market value of equity as a proxy for cash flows, the results of this study suggest that aggregate accounting amounts mask how the components of earnings affect investors' ability to predict future cash flows. Disaggregating pension earnings components and accruals results in an increase in predictive power. During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, however, investors placed a greater (and negative) weight on the incremental information contained in the individual components of accruals. The inferences are robust to alternative specifications of accruals. Finally, in my third essay I investigate how investors view under-funded plans. On average, investors: view deficits arising from under-funded plans as belonging to the firm; reward firms with fully or over-funded pension plans; and encourage those funds with unfunded pension plans to become funded. Investors also encourage conservative pension asset allocations to mitigate firm risk, and smaller firms are perceived as being better able to handle the risk associated with underfunded plans. During the financial crisis of 2008-2009 underfunded status had a lower negative association with market value. In all three models, there are significant differences in pre- and post- SFAS 158 periods. These results are robust to various scenarios of the timing of the financial crisis and an alternative measure of funding.

Consolidating Security and Development in Colombia: Lessons for Peru and Panama

Colombia's increasingly effective efforts to mitigate the power of the FARC and other illegitimately armed groups in the country can offer important lessons for the Peruvian government as it strives to prevent a resurgence of Sendero Luminoso and other illegal non-state actors. Both countries share certain particular challenges: deep economic, social, and in the case of Peru ethnic divisions, the presence of and/or the effects of violent insurgencies, a large-scale narcotics production and trafficking, and a history of weak state presence in large tracts of isolated and scarcely-populated areas. Important differences exist, however in the nature of the insurgencies in the two countries, the government response to them and the nature of government and society that affects the applicability of Colombia's experience to Peru. The security threat to Panama from drug trafficking and Colombian insurgents --often a linked phenomenon-- are in many ways different from the drug/insurgent factor in Colombia itself and in Peru, although there are similar variables. Unlike the Colombian and Peruvian cases, the security threat in Panama is not directed against the state, there are no domestic elements seeking to overthrow the government -- as the case of the FARC and Sendero Luminoso, security problems have not spilled over from rural to urban areas in Panama, and there is no ideological component at play in driving the threat. Nor is drug cultivation a major factor in Panama as it is in Colombia and Peru. The key variable that is shared among all three cases is the threat of extra-state actors controlling remote rural areas or small towns where state presence is minimal. The central lesson learned from Colombia is the need to define and then address the key problem of a "sovereignity gap," lack of legitimate state presence in many part of the country. Colombia's success in broadening the presence of the national government between 2002 and the presence is owed to many factors, including an effective national strategy, improvements in the armed forces and police, political will on the part of government for a sustained effort, citizen buy-in to the national strategy, including the resolve of the elite to pay more in taxes to bring change about, and the adoption of a sequenced approach to consolidated development in conflicted areas. Control of territory and effective state presence improved citizen security, strengthened confidence in democracy and the legitimate state, promoted economic development, and helped mitigate the effect of illegal drugs. Peru can benefit from the Colombian experience especially in terms of the importance of legitimate state authority, improved institutions, gaining the support of local citizens, and furthering development to wean communities away from drugs. State coordinated "integration" efforts in Peru as practiced in Colombia have the potential for success if properly calibrated to Peruvian reality, coordinated within government, and provided with sufficient resources. Peru's traditionally weak political institutions and lack of public confidence in the state in many areas of the country must be overcome if this effort is to be successful.

Extrafiscalidade: análise da norma potiguar regulamentadora do imposto sobre propriedade veicular automotora à luz da tutela ambiental

From the second half of the twentieth century the state bega n to use exaction beyond your fiscalist character, also as a means of alignment deformities economic and social balance, influencing in different directions, according to economic, social and political policy. It is what is usually called the extrafiscalit y. It is in light of this phenomenon and the constitutional perspective, the present work aims to analyze item IV of article. 8 of Law n. 6.967/96, regulatory Property Tax Vehicle Automotive (property taxes) in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, in view of its possible incompatibility with the principles of the Basic Statute and with international guidelines for protection of the environment The problem of this research is Seated in art. 225 of the Constitution, which provides that everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment. From the reading of this standard, extracted it is the responsibility of the state protecting the environment, which requires the adoption of suitable actions to that end. However, we look to state law cited follows th e constitutional path, since it exempts the collection of property taxes automotive vehicles with over 10 years of manufacturing, which could encourage the conservation of a fleet of old vehicles, mostly more polluting and harmful to the environment and hu man health. Would the state legislature oblivious to the constitutional principles and the global trend of environmental preservation? Thus questions whether such an incentive for more polluting vehicles, emitting more gases in the atmosphere. Moreover, th e international community is already moving through important conventions in an attempt to minimize and control global warming and climate change. Predicting the theme in CF/88 demonstrates that the country is no stranger to the issue. Thus, the work is a retelling of Law No. 6.967/96 order to check whether it is compatible with the existing system. The methodology consists of a documentary, deductive, dialectical literature. At the end of the survey, it was found that provide a tax benefit to these vehicle s is encouraged to maintain them in circulation and contribute to the increase in air and noise pollution, in addition to the traffic problems generated. Thus, this potiguar anything standard can be expressed extrafiscality because the medium and long term there is encouragement and worsening environmental problem. Despite the ability to pay clause, but this remission is an affront to legally protected interests. Thus, this device goes in reverse order compared to the values of the legal system and in relat ion to sustainable development. Modern Tax Law should be used as a tool to achieve the purposes collimated by the State, and not otherwise. It was noticed that the vast majority of Brazilian states does not follow this rule, including Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais have no such exemption. Therefore, the RN State does not constitute a model for sustainable public policies, nor example of environmental protection by state law.

Gravidade do olho seco em pacientes internados em unidade de terapia intensiva: análise de conceito e construção de definições

Dry eye syndrome is a multifactorial disease of the tear film, resulting from the instability of the lacrimal functional unit that produces volume change, up or tear distribution. In patients in intensive care the cause is enhanced due to various risk factors, such as mechanical ventilation, sedation, lagophthalmos, low temperatures, among others. The study's purpose is to build an assessment tool of Dry Eye Severity in patients in intensive care units based on the systematization of nursing care and their classification systems. The aim of this study is to build an assessment tool of Dry Eye Severity in hospitalized patients in Care Unit Intensiva.Trata is a methodological study conducted in three stages, namely: context analysis, concept analysis, construction of operational definitions and magnitudes of nursing outcome. For the first step we used the methodological framework for Hinds, Chaves and Cypress (1992). For the second step we used the model of Walker and Avant and an integrative review Whitemore seconds, Knalf (2005). This step enabled the identification of the concept of attributes, background and consequent ground and the construction of the settings for the result of nursing severity of dry eye. For the construction of settings and operational magnitudes, it was used Psicometria proposed by Pasquali (1999). As a result of context analysis, visualized from the reflection that the matter should be discussed and that nursing needs to pay attention to the problem of eye injury, so minimizing strategies are created this event with a high prevalence. With the integrative review were located from the crosses 19 853 titles, selected 215, and from the abstracts 96 articles were read in full. From reading 10 were excluded culminating in the sample of 86 articles that were used to analyze the concept and construction of settings. Selected articles were found in greater numbers in the Scopus database (55.82%), performed in the United States (39.53%), and published mainly in the last five years (48.82). Regarding the concept of analysis were identified as antecedents: age, lagophthalmos, environmental factors, medication use, systemic diseases, mechanical ventilation and ophthalmic surgery. As attributes: TBUT <10s, Schimer I test <5 mm in Schimer II test <10mm, reduced osmolarity. As consequential: the ocular surface damage, ocular discomfort, visual instability. The settings were built and added indicators such as: decreased blink mechanism and eyestrain.

Pricing Automobile Fuel Economy : A New Hedonic Approach

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What, who and when? Incorporating a discrete choice experiment into an economic evaluation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The Medman study was funded by the Department of Health for England and Wales and managed by a collaboration of the National Pharmaceutical Association, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Company Chemist Association and the Co-operative Pharmacy Technical Panel, led by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee. The research in this paper was undertaken while the lead author MT was undertaking a doctoral research fellowship jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). The Health Economics Research Unit (HERU), University of Aberdeen is funded by the Chief Scientific Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate.

Eliciting Preferences for Social Health Insurance in Ethiopia : A Discrete Choice Experiment

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Essays on the Dynamic Decisions of Homeowners and Retailers

Urban problems have several features that make them inherently dynamic. Large transaction costs all but guarantee that homeowners will do their best to consider how a neighborhood might change before buying a house. Similarly, stores face large sunk costs when opening, and want to be sure that their investment will pay off in the long run. In line with those concerns, different areas of Economics have made recent advances in modeling those questions within a dynamic framework. This dissertation contributes to those efforts.

Chapter 2 discusses how to model an agent’s location decision when the agent must learn about an exogenous amenity that may be changing over time. The model is applied to estimating the marginal willingness to pay to avoid crime, in which agents are learning about the crime rate in a neighborhood, and the crime rate can change in predictable (Markovian) ways.

Chapters 3 and 4 concentrate on location decision problems when there are externalities between decision makers. Chapter 3 focuses on the decision of business owners to open a store, when its demand is a function of other nearby stores, either through competition, or through spillovers on foot traffic. It uses a dynamic model in continuous time to model agents’ decisions. A particular challenge is isolating the contribution of spillovers from the contribution of other unobserved neighborhood attributes that could also lead to agglomeration. A key contribution of this chapter is showing how we can use information on storefront ownership to help separately identify spillovers.

Finally, chapter 4 focuses on a class of models in which families prefer to live

close to similar neighbors. This chapter provides the first simulation of such a model in which agents are forward looking, and shows that this leads to more segregation than it would have been observed with myopic agents, which is the standard in this literature. The chapter also discusses several extensions of the model that can be used to investigate relevant questions such as the arrival of a large contingent high skilled tech workers in San Francisco, the immigration of hispanic families to several southern American cities, large changes in local amenities, such as the construction of magnet schools or metro stations, and the flight of wealthy residents from cities in the Rust belt, such as Detroit.

The impact of user charges on patient choice of healthcare services in Ireland

This research assesses the impact of user charges in the context of consumer choice to ascertain how user charges in healthcare impact on patient behaviour in Ireland. Quantitative data is collected from a subset of the population in walk-in Urgent Care Clinics and General Practitioner surgeries to assess their responses to user charges and whether user charges are a viable source of part-funding healthcare in Ireland. Examining the economic theories of Becker (1965) and Grossman (1972), the research has assessed the impact of user charges on patient choice in terms of affordability and accessibility in healthcare. The research examined a number of private, public and part-publicly funded healthcare services in Ireland for which varying levels of user charges exist depending on patients’ healthcare cover. Firstly, the study identifies the factors affecting patient choice of privately funded walk-in Urgent Care Clinics in Ireland given user charges. Secondly, the study assesses patient response to user charges for a mainly public or part-publicly provided service; prescription drugs. Finally, the study examines patients’ attitudes towards the potential application of user charges for both public and private healthcare services when patient choice is part of a time-money trade-off, convenience choice or preference choice. These services are valued in the context of user charges becoming more prevalent in healthcare systems over time. The results indicate that the impact of user charges on healthcare services vary according to socio-economic status. The study shows that user charges can disproportionately affect lower income groups and consequently lead to affordability and accessibility issues. However, when valuing the potential application of user charges for three healthcare services (MRI scans, blood tests and a branded over a generic prescription drug), this research indicates that lower income individuals are willing to pay for healthcare services, albeit at a lower user charge than higher income earners. Consequently, this study suggests that user charges may be a feasible source of part-financing Irish healthcare, once the user charge is determined from the patients’ perspective, taking into account their ability to pay.

Solvency considerations in the gamma-omega surplus model

Ce mémoire de maîtrise traite de la théorie de la ruine, et plus spécialement des modèles actuariels avec surplus dans lesquels sont versés des dividendes. Nous étudions en détail un modèle appelé modèle gamma-omega, qui permet de jouer sur les moments de paiement de dividendes ainsi que sur une ruine non-standard de la compagnie. Plusieurs extensions de la littérature sont faites, motivées par des considérations liées à la solvabilité. La première consiste à adapter des résultats d’un article de 2011 à un nouveau modèle modifié grâce à l’ajout d’une contrainte de solvabilité. La seconde, plus conséquente, consiste à démontrer l’optimalité d’une stratégie de barrière pour le paiement des dividendes dans le modèle gamma-omega. La troisième concerne l’adaptation d’un théorème de 2003 sur l’optimalité des barrières en cas de contrainte de solvabilité, qui n’était pas démontré dans le cas des dividendes périodiques. Nous donnons aussi les résultats analogues à l’article de 2011 en cas de barrière sous la contrainte de solvabilité. Enfin, la dernière concerne deux différentes approches à adopter en cas de passage sous le seuil de ruine. Une liquidation forcée du surplus est mise en place dans un premier cas, en parallèle d’une liquidation à la première opportunité en cas de mauvaises prévisions de dividendes. Un processus d’injection de capital est expérimenté dans le deuxième cas. Nous étudions l’impact de ces solutions sur le montant des dividendes espérés. Des illustrations numériques sont proposées pour chaque section, lorsque cela s’avère pertinent.

Traitement des émotions évoquées par les expressions faciales, vocales et musicales à la suite d’un traumatisme craniocérébral

Le traitement des émotions joue un rôle essentiel dans les relations interpersonnelles. Des déficits dans la reconnaissance des émotions évoquées par les expressions faciales et vocales ont été démontrés à la suite d’un traumatisme craniocérébral (TCC). Toutefois, la majorité des études n’ont pas différencié les participants selon le niveau de gravité du TCC et n’ont pas évalué certains préalables essentiels au traitement émotionnel, tels que la capacité à percevoir les caractéristiques faciales et vocales, et par le fait même, la capacité à y porter attention. Aucune étude ne s’est intéressée au traitement des émotions évoquées par les expressions musicales, alors que la musique est utilisée comme méthode d’intervention afin de répondre à des besoins de prise en charge comportementale, cognitive ou affective chez des personnes présentant des atteintes neurologiques. Ainsi, on ignore si les effets positifs de l’intervention musicale sont basés sur la préservation de la reconnaissance de certaines catégories d’émotions évoquées par les expressions musicales à la suite d’un TCC. La première étude de cette thèse a évalué la reconnaissance des émotions de base (joie, tristesse, peur) évoquées par les expressions faciales, vocales et musicales chez quarante et un adultes (10 TCC modéré-sévère, 9 TCC léger complexe, 11 TCC léger simple et 11 témoins), à partir de tâches expérimentales et de tâches perceptuelles contrôles. Les résultats suggèrent un déficit de la reconnaissance de la peur évoquée par les expressions faciales à la suite d’un TCC modéré-sévère et d’un TCC léger complexe, comparativement aux personnes avec un TCC léger simple et sans TCC. Le déficit n’est pas expliqué par un trouble perceptuel sous-jacent. Les résultats montrent de plus une préservation de la reconnaissance des émotions évoquées par les expressions vocales et musicales à la suite d’un TCC, indépendamment du niveau de gravité. Enfin, malgré une dissociation observée entre les performances aux tâches de reconnaissance des émotions évoquées par les modalités visuelle et auditive, aucune corrélation n’a été trouvée entre les expressions vocales et musicales. La deuxième étude a mesuré les ondes cérébrales précoces (N1, N170) et plus tardives (N2) de vingt-cinq adultes (10 TCC léger simple, 1 TCC léger complexe, 3 TCC modéré-sévère et 11 témoins), pendant la présentation d’expressions faciales évoquant la peur, la neutralité et la joie. Les résultats suggèrent des altérations dans le traitement attentionnel précoce à la suite d’un TCC, qui amenuisent le traitement ultérieur de la peur évoquée par les expressions faciales. En somme, les conclusions de cette thèse affinent notre compréhension du traitement des émotions évoquées par les expressions faciales, vocales et musicales à la suite d’un TCC selon le niveau de gravité. Les résultats permettent également de mieux saisir les origines des déficits du traitement des émotions évoquées par les expressions faciales à la suite d’un TCC, lesquels semblent secondaires à des altérations attentionnelles précoces. Cette thèse pourrait contribuer au développement éventuel d’interventions axées sur les émotions à la suite d’un TCC.

Valuation of Ecosystem Services for Environmental Decision Making in South Florida

The Greater Everglades system imparts vital ecosystem services (ES) to South Florida residents including high quality drinking water supplies and a habitat for threatened and endangered species. As a result of the altered Everglades system and regional dynamics, restoration may either improve the provision of these services or impose a tradeoff between enhanced environmental goods and services and competing societal demands. The current study aims at understanding public preferences for restoration and generating willingness to pay (WTP) values for restored ES through the implementation of a discrete choice experiment. A previous study (Milon et al., 1999) generated WTP values amongst Floridians of up to $3.42 -$4.07 billion for full restoration over a 10-year period. We have collected data from 2,905 respondents taken from two samples who participated in an online survey designed to elicit the WTP values for selected ecological and social attributes included in the earlier study (Milon et al. 1999). We estimate that the Florida general public is willing to pay up to $854.1- $954.1 million over 10 years to avoid restrictions on their water usage and up to $90.8- $183.7 million over 10 years to restore the hydrological flow within the Water Conservation Area.

Jinetera

Jinetera, a novel set in La Habana, explores the self-discovery of Milena Campos whose mother drowned in her attempt to leave Cuba. Milena is sent to live with her mother’s half sister and ends up in the hospital. There she meets Kassandra Martinez-- a young prostitute (jinetera)--who is obsessed with escaping Cuba. Milena turns to prostitution to pay for a boat to Miami with Kassandra and her newborn baby. The plot of the novel centers around the theme of redemption for the protagonist as well as the characters around her. Milena believes that saving her friend’s baby will validate her mother’s death. Jinetera examines the core values of a young woman born and raised in a despondent dictatorship, who in search of freedom and redemption is led to test the limits of her integrity and humanity as she awakens to the harsh reality of a government she once trusted.

Presupuestos y gastos del estado en la provincia de Buenos Aires para afrontar las inundaciones de los campos, 1870-1930

Nos proponemos estudiar la participación de la agencia estatal encargada de la gestión de las obras hídricas en el presupuesto de la provincia de Buenos Aires, puesto que indica la importancia que los gobiernos le dieron al problema de las inundaciones en los campos, y ponderar el aporte privado toda vez que se compelía a los propietarios a pagar un impuesto especial. Nuestro período se extiende desde los primeros esfuerzos realizados por los gobiernos provinciales en la década de 1870, hasta 1930 en que empezó un ciclo más seco y los problemas en los métodos de desagüe se postergaron. Enfocaremos el análisis a través de los registros oficiales, los debates en las cámaras de la Legislatura provincial y los mensajes de los gobernadores. Vamos a ponderar la importancia del Ministerio de Obras Públicas entre los diferentes rubros aprobados por la legislatura, seguidamente analizaremos con mayor detalle las transformaciones en la agencia dedicada a las cuestiones hídricas y la, todavía escasa, información sobre los gastos especiales en obras de desagüe