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Coal gasification to manufacture dihydrogen (H 2) has long been known as a surface process. Recent works have also highlighted the H 2 generating potential of the Organic Matter (OM). The evolution of OM generates H 2 all along the process but this gas is only expected to remain as free H 2 after the maturation and expulsion of the hydrocarbons (HC) which means at a high temperature of above 200 °C. In this paper we studied the potential of three different tertiary coals from Amaga, La Jagua de Ibirico and Barrancas, all located in Colombia. Their H 2 yields were studied using a pyrolyser and the kinetic of the H 2 generation were quantified. All the studied coals are immature to early mature as source rock (SR) with large TOC content, between 66 and 83%, and good H 2 potential. The highest values were found for the Barrancas area where the potential reached 25 mg H 2 /g TOC. The temperature corresponding to the peak of H 2 generation is between 740 and 800 °C depending of the heating rate. This corresponds to the 200–300 °C for the H 2 kitchen, even if the H 2 generation starts before as already observed for continental organic rich source rock. Comparison with the other coals shows that H 2 potential is linear with TOC. In the Colombian coals, the H 2 yield in mg H 2 /g of rock is around 1/4 of the TOC content. In average, these coals have so a H 2 yield about 10 000 mmol H 2 /kg of rock, two orders of magnitude above the "best" olivines. It should nevertheless be kept in mind that the extrapolation of these laboratory data to sedimentary basins remains unconstrained and will need to be refined when well data and modelling tools are available. • The coals have significant H 2 potential in deep sedimentary basins. • High temperature open-system pyrolizer can be used to quantify these H 2 yield. • The reaction kinetic of the H 2 generation from coal is of order 1 and H 2 window generation can extend from 200 to 400 °C. • The Cenozoic Colombian coal's yield of H 2 in mgH 2 /g rock is ca ¼ of its organic carbon content in percentage. • A 80% TOC rich coal has a H 2 yield two orders of magnitude higher than that of olivines at a similar temperature of 250 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impacts of armed conflict on women's sexual and reproductive health in Colombia, building on a reproductive justice perspective to analyse original interviews with stakeholders in healthcare, women's rights, and peacebuilding. The analysis reveals that war affects women's sexual and reproductive health in three ways, through violent politicisation, collateral damage, and intersectional dimensions. First, multiple armed actors have used women's health as an instrument in politically motivated strategies to increase their power, assigning political meaning to sexuality and reproduction within the context of war. Second, women's health has also suffered from secondary damage of conflict resulting from a decay in healthcare service provision and an unmet need for healthcare services among those affected by sexual and reproductive violence. Third, marginalised women have been particularly affected by a discriminatory nexus of poverty, ethnicity, and geographic inequality. The paper concludes with a reflection on the opportunities for reproductive justice in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the male homoerotic experiences of ex-combatants from the FARC-EP and ELN guerrillas, as well as paramilitary groups, during their period in these armed groups. For this article, we have used multiple methodological strategies. For the first two stories, we made semi-structured qualitative interviews with ex-combatants. Then, we wrote the narratives collaboratively. For the third story, the anecdote was constructed based on the testimonies of the residents of a municipality of Caldas affected by the armed conflict. The participation of combatants in homoerotic practices and their involvement in romantic relationships with men showed that interpretations and meanings of homosexuality (and heterosexuality) in war contexts can be questioned, since their involvement is related to victimization. In addition, the narratives demonstrated that the meaning of these concepts was fragmented in various directions such as desire, feelings, anxieties, and complicity with the armed logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bucaramanga seismic nest has the highest concentration in volume of intermediate depth seismic events with light and moderate magnitudes (Mb > 4.8) worldwide. Despite the nest depth (Zhypo ≥ 100 km), these events play a crucial role in the seismic hazard assessment for several cities in northern South America (NoSAm), particularly those situated close to their epicenters. Moreover, these earthquakes are widely felt across the country, even hundreds of kilometers away from the nest. This paper assesses the performance of commonly used subduction intraslab Ground Motion Models (GMMs) in predicting the updated nest database gathered and processed by the Colombian Geological Survey. This analysis confirms the necessity of a partially non-ergodic ground motion model for estimating the spectral accelerations produced by Bucaramanga nest earthquakes in northern South America. The GMM presented herein is the first model developed specifically for seismic nests in the region and is conceived as a regionalization of the recent NGA-Sub Abrahamson and Gülerce (Earthq Spectra 38(4):2638−2681, 2022) GMM. Additionally, we provide estimates of the variance components at both the earthquake and station levels and compare the developed GMM with the spectral accelerations recorded for typical earthquakes, for the highest magnitude earthquake in the database, and for a recent Bucaramanga nest earthquake having a moment magnitude over 5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores children's and youth's understandings of Colombian citizenship. Drawing from ethnographic work in the Museo Casa de la Memoria in Medellín, where I accompanied 15 school visits with young museum workers and over three hundred school-aged children, this paper proposes that citizenship appears to be a double-bind and disputable categorization. Citizenship was defined as a failed formal project and lived as relational and bounded by the shared violence historically suffered by vulnerable communities. To the post-accord generation, being Colombian is about learning of the collective suffering, and their perceived civic responsibility is to collective memory and peacebuilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how Black women entrepreneurs in Cali, Colombia confront racism and sexism, as they engage in the expanding neoliberal beauty market. We argue that anti-racist entrepreneurial experiences in Cali are shaped by four interconnected processes: First, changes in gender and development policies, aligned with inclusive neoliberal development projects. Second, the limitations of state neoliberal multicultural policies, which has made activists aware of the need to address racism and sexism. Third, activist's appropriation of the intersectional turn, allowing them to recognize articulations between racism, classism and sexism. Fourth, the adoption of anti-neoliberal discourses supporting distributive and solidarity practices. Our analysis suggests that while entrepreneurial anti-racist actions do not generate radical or permanent changes in the beauty industry, they do have material and symbolic effects in Black women's experiences of racial justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library (HSML) holds a collection of nine viceregal barniz de Pasto objects, made by Indigenous artisans in the 17th and 18th centuries. Designed to imitate Asian lacquers and intended for European aesthetic tastes, barniz de Pasto is an example of Indigenous technique and knowledge that has survived to the present day. An in-depth analysis of five of these barniz de Pasto objects, dated to the first half and last quarter of the 17th century based on their iconography, was carried out through a combination of non-invasive and micro-invasive techniques, including portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectroscopy to investigate the possible presence of inorganic pigments, and fiber-optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and reflectance imaging spectroscopy (RIS) to provide molecular information on colorants and their distributions across the objects. Dyes and pigments were also identified using Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The nature of the resin was determined by FTIR and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), while the decoration stratigraphy and composition were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). This paper confirms the use of mopa mopa, the resin used in the barniz de Pasto technique, in two objects not previously analyzed, and identifies indigo, insect-based red, calomel, lead white, and an unknown flavonol-based yellow dye, and challenges the use of calomel as a temporal marker for these works. Taken together, these results expand our understanding of the material use and explorations undertaken by artists during this time period to create such elaborate and enduring objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore what campesino [peasant] livelihoods in the rural Andean mountains of Colombia offer to understandings of more-than-human co-existence and care. For, while new conservation paradigms promise to transform economic and social horizons, being "paramuno" [resident of the "paramo," or high moorlands] in the small community of Monquentiva is already characterized by becoming-with-other-beings-and-practices; a disposition toward incorporation of elements that are at-hand, and an ethics of care toward other beings in the landscape. We draw on ethnographic data to present this case study, emphasizing the forms of social organization and persistence that have enabled the emergence of economically and ecologically sustainable livelihoods. We explore these processes in terms of what we call world-making practices, showing how relationships with Indigeneity and collectivity are being renegotiated, and arguing for modes of conservation that engage with existing forms of peasant innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to assess whether the Colombian Constitutional Court has had a transformative approach to transitional justice in relation to conflict-related sexual violence. Building upon previous literature on feminist approaches to transitional justice, we carry out a content analysis of all 37 Autos related to conflict-related sexual violence issued by the Colombian Constitutional Court between 2008 and 2016. In doing so, we delve into how the high court identifies perpetrators and survivors of sexual violence, the causes that lead to sexual violence during conflict and displacement, and the measures they propose to eradicate this crime. Overall, while we find that critical decisions are transformative in most of the analysed dimensions, there remains some room for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the web tools used by two Colombian daily papers (El Tiempo, from Bogotá, and El País, from Cali) in order to interact with their readers. For our research we used a matrix to help us classify the abovementioned tools vis-à-vis the different extent of the interactions, the latter understood as the range of possibilities offered by the media to their users in order to modify, produce, and communicate content with both the original transmitters of information and other users. In the case of the papers herein examined, we found that, in spite of the fact that they do offer tools which in fact do bring about interactivity, the latter revolves around three main aspects: adaptability, browsing, and feedback, whereby the user remains at a first level (that of reading the texts) but is not yet allowed to co-produce the content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the purpose of ending wars, international organizations and governments promote reintegration projects that seek to transform combatants affiliated with illegal armed groups into citizens through education. The assumption behind these efforts is that through education, ex-combatants will become economically independent, overcome marginalization, experience personal transformations, and integrate into communities. This paper questions this optimistic narrative of education by highlighting the differentiated meanings of education for ex-combatants reintegrating in urban Colombia. Listening to the voices of ex-combatants who have engaged in technical and vocational education programs, this paper compares policy narratives with ex-combatants' narratives regarding the role of education in the reintegration process. The analysis reveals how for ex-combatants, education is a complex social practice that redistributes resources and contributes to positive psychosocial and empowerment transformations. At the same time, it is a process of insertion into an individualistic system and adaptation to unequal participation within the country's socio-economic hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanitarian and development agencies intervening in Latin American cities increasingly face the challenge posed by criminal armed groups (CAGs). Yet, there is a need for evidence‐based comparative studies on how international agencies deal with them. Drawing on data collected in Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Mexico, this paper presents a novel typology of humanitarian organisations' access strategies that distinguishes between different levels of interaction with CAGs. The paper shows how humanitarian agencies assess a variety of risks and balance the potential consequences of their engagement with CAGs with the need to maintain constructive and trustful relationships with the state and the community with which they work. It finds that indirect dialogue or negotiation with CAGs via community leaders who act as intermediaries might provide a low‐risk alternative to direct negotiation with CAG leaders, provided that 'do no harm' and humanitarian protection considerations vis‐à‐vis communities and intermediaries play a central role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article presents the results of an exploratory study for illuminating the state of the research concerning public policy in Colombia. A core assumption of the project is that the national capacity (intellectual capital) for producing relevant and thorough research in public policy, theory and practice, is a key element for the quality of its democracy and the sustainability of the system. A systematic documentary review of the research papers produced between 2008 and 2018 was conducted, spanning a total of 1010 papers. The results point to the relevance of continuing this type of study within Colombia and to the need of involving all the stakeholders in a dialogue about how to improve the country's capacity to design, implement, and evaluate sound public policies. Related Articles: Asongu, Simplice A. 2016. "Sino‐African Relations: A Review and Reconciliation of Dominant Schools of Thought." Politics & Policy 44(2): 351–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12152. De Lombaerde, Philippe. 2015. "The Political Economy of Trade Protection in Colombia." Politics & Policy 43(6): 855–86. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12140. Seefeldt, Jennapher Lunde. 2020. "Lessons from the Lithium Triangle: Considering Policy Explanations for the Variation in Lithium Industry Development in the 'Lithium Triangle' Countries of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia." Politics & Policy 48(4): 727–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12365. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal transport sector has various ambivalent characteristics and often a negative connotation since it commonly operates unauthorized and illicitly and is not part of the official transport sector. However, the informal sector provides a mix of legitimate transport offerings as well as important complementary services. The paper focuses on these 'new mobilities' and aims to understand informal transportation systems not only as a service coverage in specific areas lacking formal transit, but also as an activity that arises as a popular form of struggle and a covert and unorganized form of resistance against the political power embedded in dominant transportation systems. Through an empirical study conducted in the region of Urabá in Colombia the paper explores how the dominant agricultural industries in the region are causing huge challenges related to the overlap of transportation scales, congestion and risks of accidents in urban areas, affecting urban development, and how injustices of the existing public transport services and insufficient road infrastructures trigger the production of informal transportation. The paper mobilizes the theory of 'everyday forms of resistance', which draws attention to certain common behaviour and activities of subaltern groups as tactics to survive and undermine repressive domination. As such, this paper questions through its case study to what extent the informal transportation actions in Urabá are in a way challenging oppression and can be called an everyday form of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration of Venezuelans nationals to other Latin-American countries has been defined as the most significant migratory phenomenon in the recent story of the region, with Colombia being the country that hosts the highest number of Venezuelan nationals. From a human rights perspective, this article critically analyzes the response of the Colombian State to address migration from Venezuela. The objective of this article is to show that Colombia has preferred to govern this migration through the creation of ad hoc permits, instead of recognizing the need for international protection of this population and their status as refugees. To this end, this paper analyzes the Colombian regulatory framework on migration and refuge and, in particular, the response of the Colombian State to the migration of people from Venezuela. Its central argument is that the Colombian authorities have opted for the design and implementation of alternative measures of migratory regularization, as it was at the time the Special Permit of Permanence and is today the Permit for Temporary Protection. This article concludes by stating that the approach to Venezuelan migration has led to a clear detriment to the refugee system, today collapsed and with no prospect of reform or strengthening. This is so because the institutional design of the Colombian refuge entails a host of obstacles that discourage applicants from following this path, even when they require international protection. The authors of this paper use legal dogmatic as the main research methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the determinants of rural-urban student performance in Colombia, a nation characterized by pronounced inequality. Using quantile regression, a student-level education production function at different points along the achievement distribution is estimated. Using the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, estimates are provided to explain the achievement differential between urban–rural students. These estimates account for various factors including individual, family, and school characteristics. Results indicate that mean differences in performance between students in rural and urban Colombian schools are significant. Observable factors, especially school characteristics, are the main drivers of the performance gap. Substantial differences are observed when different test percentiles of the performance distribution are considered. Our results suggest that one way in which education can reduce student performance gaps is by investing in improving school quality in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an investigation of the main causes of migration of the Wayuu to urban areas of Colombia and Venezuela and the effect this has caused on the contact between Wayuunaiki and Spanish. Through interviews, ethnographic observations and bibliographic consultations, we identify the voluntary and forced causes of this long-lasting migration that continues to develop. The settlement in urban areas and the growing bilingualism of the Wayuu facilitates the development of an ethnolect specific to the ethnic group, distinguished by the use of lexical borrowings, morphosyntactic combinations and codeswitching. This paper contributes to the existing literature by identifying more features and examples of the products of this linguistic and cultural contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people in Colombia present high rates of mental health problems, to which the country’s history of armed internal conflict contributes in complex ways. Mental health services in Colombia are fragmented, inadequate, and difficult to access for many. Young people’s help)seeking is often hindered by mental health stigma and/or poor experiences with services. This paper presents a thematic analysis of qualitative data from a mixed-methods study aimed at developing and testing a mental health intervention for Colombian youths. We draw upon theoretical lenses from scholarly work on stigma and Sen’s ‘capabilities approach’ to inform our analysis of interviews and group discussions with staff and young people involved in the state-funded human capital building programme ‘Jovenes en Acción’ (JeA). By illustrating how study participants talked about stigma, vulnerability, mental health services organisation, and the challenges of discussing mental health topics in a learning environment, we illuminate aspects of mental health support and anti-stigma interventions that might need enhancing. In particular, we suggest that more emphasis on ‘community competencies’ as complementary to and interrelated with individual competencies would strengthen young people’s individual and collective resources for mental wellbeing while being in line with the sociocritical principles of existing human capital-enhancing programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID 19 pandemic, Online Asynchronous Focus Groups (OAFG) through WhatsApp were conducted to explore women's experiences in the context of Congenital Syphilis prevention in Colombia. This paper discusses issues raised by the OAFGs (not least in relation to face-to-face focus groups). After a review of the literature on online and offline focus groups, there is a consideration of some key features of our OAFGs. In particular, we note how silence, presence, attention, continuity and multiplicity manifested in our OAFGs. We suggest that rather than regarding OAFGs as inferior to the 'gold standard' of face-to-face focus groups, our OAFGs raise important questions about our assumptions about focus group methodology. For instance, what counts as participant engagement, what comprises 'useful' social data, and what constitute the boundaries of a focus group all emerge as critical issues. We go on to reflect on some of the implications of these issues for the fruitfulness of OAFG methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to suggest a mathematical model of unpaid housework and empirically test its main predictions using data from Mexico (2014) and Colombia (2017) time-use surveys. The model, based upon the Marxist-feminist approach, suggests that the magnitude of unpaid housework is determined by the super-exploitation of labor, i.e. the gap between wages and the value of labor-power. The outcome is an equation that relates positively the magnitude of unpaid housework with the super-exploitation of labor. The parametric and nonparametric regression estimates applied in both countries show preliminary empirical support for the theoretical model. The theoretical and empirical findings have several implications for Marxist-feminist literature as well as for empirical research on unpaid housework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/context: The article aims to analyze child recruitment as a form of human trafficking. Beyond the theoretical perspectives that focus on security or rights, it addresses the topic as a form of unfree labor. By means of a case study focused on child recruitment by right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia, the paper analyzes how children entered and exited illegal armed groups, the functions they performed, and the exploitation they endured. The research argues that child recruitment operates as a large-scale labor-market uptake in the wartime social order, where the “employers” are paramilitary groups, and the labor force, in part, consists of children and adolescents. Methodology: This case study relies on different sources of information: a database on child recruitment provided by the special Justice and Peace Unit of the Colombian Attorney General’s Office (989 cases between 1981 and 2005), sentences of Peace and Justice, testimonials given by victims in judicial processes, and semi-structured interviews with different actors. Conclusions: The paper shows that child recruitment as a form of trafficking is functional to wartime social order in contexts of poverty and inequality. There is demand and supply; thus, both girls and boys, who worked as soldiers, are not only victims but also agents that make decisions in challenging conditions. Therefore, if the socioeconomic options for these children, even after their demobilization from the armed group, are still a choice between bad and worse, joining a violent (no longer “armed” but “criminal”) group will remain a feasible alternative. Originality: The article contributes to the academic literature on a recent topic, such as the overlapping between child recruitment and human trafficking in armed conflict and post-conflict situations. It also contributes to the literature on “unfree labor,” as the study focuses on an actor (illegal armed groups) that has not been analyzed until now. Finally, the research demonstrates the limits of understanding human trafficking (and child recruitment as a form of trafficking) as a problem of security or rights entitlement. It highlights the analytical and political advantages of categories such as “unfree labor” to provide effective solutions for the prevention and reintegration of child soldiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Genocide” is a key frame through which death is given social significance. Scholars have argued that genocide sits at the top of a hierarchy of grief – signalling it as the most profound paradigm through which those killed can be mourned. How does the mourning of life unfold when legal and social conceptualizations of genocide diverge? And what does this divergence tell us about the power of “genocide” as a label for violence? Focusing on the extermination campaign against Colombia’s Patriotic Union (UP) political party, this paper examines how recent transitional justice programmes have interpreted the question of genocide and violence against political groups. I specifically trace the development of two separate, discursive registers of genocide: one legal and one of “common parlance.” In so doing, I contribute to scholarly concern with the question of genocide and political groups in two ways. First, I interpret the exclusion of political groups from legal definitions of genocide as a question of grieveable life. Secondly, scholarly debate has focused on whether or not political groups ought to be protected under genocide law. I diverge from these questions to trace how emergent genocide discourses include political groups as a socially but not legally included within the term’s purview. I thus argue for scholarly attention to how political groups are interpellated in a manner that neither fully recognizes nor denies their status as victims of genocide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that are the causative agent of rickettsioses and are spread to vertebrate hosts by arthropods. There are no previous reports of isolation of Rickettsia amblyommatis for Colombia. Methods: A convenience sampling was executed in three departments in Colombia for direct collection of adult ticks on domestic animals or over vegetation. Ticks were screened for the presence of Rickettsia spp. by real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) amplifying the citrate synthase gene (gltA), and the positive sample was processed for isolation and further molecular characterization by conventional PCR. The absolute and relative frequencies were calculated for several tick species variables. All products from conventional PCR were further purified and sequenced by the Sanger technique. Representative sequences of 18 Rickettsia species were downloaded from GenBank. Consensus phylogenetic trees were constructed for the gltA, ompB, ompA, and htrA genes with 1000 replicates, calculating bootstrap values through the maximum likelihood method and the generalized time reversible substitution model in the MEGA 7.0 software program. Results: One female Amblyomma mixtum collected on vegetation was amplified by qPCR (gltA), indicating a frequency of 1.6% (1/61) for Rickettsia spp. infection. Sequence analysis of a rickettsial isolate from this tick in BLASTn showed 100% identity with gltA (340 base pairs [bp]), 99.87% for ompB (782 bp), 98.99% for htrA (497 bp), and 100% for ompA (488 bp) to R. amblyommatis. Concatenated phylogenetic analysis confirmed these findings indicating that the isolate is grouped with other sequences of Amblyomma cajennense complex from Panama and Brazil within the R. amblyommatis clade. Conclusions: This paper describes the isolation and early molecular identification of a R. amblyommatis strain from A. mixtum in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the results of research conducted with the objective of knowing the perceptions of people in Colombia about the possibility of receiving a universal basic income, which does not exist thus far in the country. The research question was: how do the social perceptions of Colombians about receiving a UBI allow them to understand the possibilities of developing a public policy that guarantees it? A qualitative methodology of grounded theory was applied by conducting 37 in-depth interviews with adults of all socioeconomic levels, all educational levels and productive working age. The information obtained was coded. The resultant main categories with which the Grounded Theory was built were mistrust in others, hope for a better society, unconditional support, and implementation scenario. It was concluded that, if there is an intention to implement the UBI in Colombia, there must be policies that contribute to changing the mistrust and fear of citizens to receive support from the State by solidarity and equity so that UBI can be assume as a right that contributes to the construction of justice and social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the ways in which women victim/survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and other human rights abuses in Colombia are co-facilitating repair and regeneration in their wider social ecologies – including their families, communities, built and natural environments – through their physical and emotional work. I begin by exploring the concept of co-facilitation which is used in socio-ecological resilience literature to designate the process through which individuals and communities cooperate with their social ecologies to make positive development possible after stressful/traumatic experiences despite systemic inequality and oppression. Using empirical data and following a growing corpus of literature which recognises that during war people are not only harmed but also build life alongside violence, I argue that victim/survivors and women-led organizations cooperate to co-facilitate positive change in women's lives and their communities. The paper concludes by reflecting on the role of these organizations as central resources in women's lives and the need to strengthen them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes some indicators of the Colombian educational system considering the effect of the pandemic and assesses the causal effect of an alternation plan between face-to-face and remote education, conducted in 2020, on the results of an achievement test. Indicators reveal that the pandemic caused a greater demand for education services in public schools, increased dropout, and repetition rates, and widened the gaps in academic performance. The causal empirical exercise indicates that the students who participated in the experiment obtained, on average, better results in the achievement test compared to students who remained in the non-face-to-face scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a case study from southwest Colombia, this paper provides hopeful example of an intercultural social movement popular education initiative which brings together social movements across territorial, political and cultural borders in order to generate unity and collaboration between these counter-hegemonic forces in the southwest of Colombia. It examines the learning and knowledge which have emerged from this initiative, led by a small, radical human rights organisation called Nomadesc, which over the course of two decades has brought together activists from diverse movements and territories across southwest Colombia in order to empower them to deal with the violent context, reimagine alternatives, and strengthen and interweave their struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the connections between the expansion of mining capital, speculative forms of land grabbing and agrarian transformation. It is argued that in periods of commodity boom, the landowning rural elite benefits from mining through speculative land deals with mining companies. They act as 'land brokers' for the mining firms, helping them to overcome a significant barrier to land accumulation through the de facto abolition of landed property. The analysis is based on a qualitative case study on the expansion of coal mining in central Cesar in northern Colombia. To develop my arguments, I refer to the concept of accumulation by dispossession as defined by Michael Levien, and historical materialist approaches on rent, and speculative land dispossession. In addition, I use concepts developed for studying coercive land grabbing and agrarian elite participation in armed conflicts to analyse the mechanisms applied to (coercively) acquire rights to land. It is concluded that with high global prices for minerals, metals and fossil fuels, the expansion of mining in the countryside fosters a process of agrarian change through land speculation that is articulated in a reconcentration of landed property, a re‐strengthening of the rural landowning elite and the dissolution of peasant agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that are the causative agent of rickettsioses and are spread to vertebrate hosts by arthropods. There are no previous reports of isolation of Rickettsia amblyommatis for Colombia. Methods: A convenience sampling was executed in three departments in Colombia for direct collection of adult ticks on domestic animals or over vegetation. Ticks were screened for the presence of Rickettsia spp. by real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) amplifying the citrate synthase gene (gltA), and the positive sample was processed for isolation and further molecular characterization by conventional PCR. The absolute and relative frequencies were calculated for several tick species variables. All products from conventional PCR were further purified and sequenced by the Sanger technique. Representative sequences of 18 Rickettsia species were downloaded from GenBank. Consensus phylogenetic trees were constructed for the gltA, ompB, ompA, and htrA genes with 1000 replicates, calculating bootstrap values through the maximum likelihood method and the generalized time reversible substitution model in the MEGA 7.0 software program. Results: One female Amblyomma mixtum collected on vegetation was amplified by qPCR (gltA), indicating a frequency of 1.6% (1/61) for Rickettsia spp. infection. Sequence analysis of a rickettsial isolate from this tick in BLASTn showed 100% identity with gltA (340 base pairs [bp]), 99.87% for ompB (782 bp), 98.99% for htrA (497 bp), and 100% for ompA (488 bp) to R. amblyommatis. Concatenated phylogenetic analysis confirmed these findings indicating that the isolate is grouped with other sequences of Amblyomma cajennense complex from Panama and Brazil within the R. amblyommatis clade. Conclusions: This paper describes the isolation and early molecular identification of a R. amblyommatis strain from A. mixtum in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a compendium of good practices detected from the application of the Social Profitability Indicator in Communication IRSCOM to a group of 12 community and indigenous public interest stations in Colombia during the year 2022. The IRSCOM-RADCC (Radio Comunitaria Colombia) is a tested methodology that is specified in 33 indicators and is designed to collect quantitative and qualitative information on the internal functioning of the media in relation to six categories of analysis: management, social capital, territorial and citizen articulation, programming, Internet activity and infrastructure. The information collected goes through a weighting process that results in numerical scores for each of its variables allowing to observe strengths and weaknesses. The tool facilitates the collection of qualitative information in the form of good practices for each of its variables, thanks to the results of the semi-structured interview that accompanies the IRSCOM implementation methodology. The results have shown ingenious ways by radios to self-manage, as well as loyalty participation, both in management and in the realization of programs. There is also a growing interest in diversity and differential aspects in the configuration of social capital and in the programmatic contents as well as a high level of linkage with the social fabric. All this makes them the axis of territorial structuring and enhancement of proximity communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of state classification practices have long interrogated how official legal categories are constructed. This paper analyzes the construction of "victimhood" in Colombia as a feat that required negotiation among international human rights organizations, local civil society actors, and politicians across the partisan spectrum. The Victims' Law of 2011, which sought to provide widespread reparations to victims of the civil conflict, originated from the concerns of the human rights community, yet the deliberation process leading up to the law's passage reveals the extent to which elite historical narratives of the conflict unduly narrowed the universe of eligible victims. Using archival evidence from congressional debates from 2007 to 2011, this paper argues that the broad conception of victimhood originally inherited from United Nations guidelines came to be constrained by disproportionate influence from politicians' personal understandings of conflict history, shaped by anecdote and the selective use of historical evidence. These rationales interacted with budgetary constraints to ultimately restrict the victim category according to negotiated temporal boundaries of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the relationship between Marxism and social sciences in Estudios Marxistas. Revista colombiana de ciencias sociales, published between 1969 and 1987 by a group of intellectuals of the Communist Party. The central argument argues that the appearance of this publication, its production dynamics, its interpretation of Marxism and social research, as well as the debates it generated, can be explained by the need of this group of intellectuals to dispute the nascent academic field, where intellectual nuclei of the "new left" had great influence. In order to develop this argument, the paper is structured in four parts. The first reconstructs the political and intellectual context in which Estudios Marxistas emerged and examines the project it outlined. The second describes the dynamics of its scientific production. The third part studies some of the uses that the research presented therein made of the Marxist tradition. The fourth part analyzes the critique of the Estudios Marxistas editorial group of the "new history" current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using estimations by Bresser-Pereira et al. (2021), this paper analyses the misalignment between the real exchange rate and the current account equilibrium exchange rate in Colombia in the last two decades (2000-2020). Evidence suggests that the commodity boom and bust cycle in this period is important to explain (i) the main trend of the misalignment, (ii) the deterioration of the current account in recent years and (iii) the general macroeconomic performance of the Colombian economy. A discussion about macroeconomic development and stability is also provided in the context of the Colombian financial configuration, characterized by a flexible exchange rate regime, central bank independence and inflation targeting. Ideas in this paper are consistent with key elements in the New Developmentalism Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, systemic, autoimmune disease of multifactorial origin. There are no previous studies in Colombia describing juvenile SLE (jSLE) prevalence, prompting this demographic description. Objective: This study aimed for prevalence calculation and epidemiologic analysis of jSLE) in Colombian patients, ages 0–19, from 2015 to 2019. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study searched the Colombian Ministry of Health database for codes of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) associated with jSLE to estimate the disease prevalence for the total population and for specific age groups at national and regional levels. Calculations used intercensal estimates of population based on the projections of the national statistics administrative department (DANE) from the most recent census. This paper presents a sociodemographic analysis of patients with jSLE. Results: The study identified in Colombia, from 2015 to 2019, 3680 cases with jSLE as the principal diagnosis. Calculated prevalence of jSLE was 25 cases per 100,000 population, with highest frequency in ages 15–19 and females (84%), with a female:male ratio of 5.1:1. Conclusion: Estimated prevalence of jSLE in Colombia is at the highest limit of worldwide findings. Consistent with reports in the literature, the disease involves females more frequently than males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we explore Colombian secondary students’ views on Venezuelan migration. Despite contradictory feelings on the topic, our findings show the prevalence of (perceived) economic and security threats associated with migrants. Tensions emerged over perceptions that Venezuelan migration has shifted attention from unresolved domestic issues, contributing to nationalist and xenophobic sentiments. Young people also exhibited concerns about xenophobic discourse and showed efforts to resist the harms of mainstream narratives. We suggest that critical openings for curricular inquiry and dialogue in classrooms are needed to engage explicitly with young people’s concerns and to mitigate potential discrimination Venezuelans experience in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important pillar of building sustainable peace after protracted violent conflict, security sector reform (SSR) has the objective to prepare state security actors, who often have been active conflict participants, for work within the frameworks of democracy, adherence to human and civil rights, and civilian rule. A major component of SSR is the re-training and re-education of local police to improve their relationship with the local communities. This relationship has often been severely strained by human rights abuses committed by police against community members during the conflict, and it continues to be put to the test in fragile post-accord environments by persisting high levels of violence. However, research on how to improve that relationship, particularly from a bottom-up perspective, remains scarce. This study analyses the dynamics of the relationship between the police and communities in the transition period from war to peace in Colombia, a country tormented by continued violence even after the signing of the 2016 peace agreement that was to set an end to the country's decades of internal conflict. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted during the fall of 2019, it applies the theoretical lens of the relational peace framework that approaches peace in terms of relationships between different sets of interdependent actors. The findings indicate that the relationship between the communities and the police has not reached satisfactory levels of relational peace, suggesting a set-back in security-related peacebuilding. The paper concludes with recommendations, including from interviewees, on how to improve that relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nasa Yuwe (ISO 639-3 pbb, formerly Páez) has been characterized as a language featuring a substantial inventory of both consonants and vowels, displaying intricate phonological categories. Moreover, various forms of complex syllable onsets have been observed in modern variations of this language. Given the absence of any documented languages closely related to Nasa Yuwe, a comprehensive understanding of the variation and evolution of its intricate phonological system necessitates a process of internal reconstruction. This paper outlines recent advancements in this area, resulting from a comparison between the only known written source of Páez from the Colonial period and data from contemporary Nasa Yuwe varieties. This initial study primarily focuses on the diachronic process of vowel deletion and its correlation with the emergence of double onsets and palatalization in contemporary Nasa Yuwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that the cumulative effects of coercive and indirect labour discipline enable firms to reorganize production. Through a historical analysis of the palm oil industry in northeastern Colombia, I identify changing forms of value chain governance in relation to transformations in labour control regimes. The combined effects of multiple labour control strategies have weakened labour power and workers' overall possibilities to shape value chain governance. In this case, labour coercion directly diminished workers' associational power and enabled labour flexibilization in the industry, limiting workers' structural power. A dialogue between the Global Value Chains framework and Critical Agrarian Studies, with a focus on labour regimes, highlights that labour flexibilization can build on past instances of coercive control to transform the structure of a value chain. This research illustrates that coercion is not necessarily "extra‐economic" but is often intrinsic to the organization of the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I outline an innovative remote participatory video (PV) methodology that makes use of participants' smartphones. It was developed as an alternative to co-production research and can be employed when face-to-face contact is impossible or undesirable. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face research interactions have been disrupted or become impossible. Yet it is vital to reach those who are most affected by emergencies and to include their voices. The research reported here was a collaboration between women in Medellín, Colombia, and a team of filmmakers and researchers. We developed an innovative remote PV methodology using participants' smartphones, researching how women from poorer neighbourhoods were affected by the pandemic in their everyday lives. Here, I reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the remote PV methodology, arguing that it offers new avenues for participants to take control of the filming and editing process, and builds technical skills and capacities that have value beyond the timeframe of the project. I conclude that the remote PV method has great potential as a stand-alone method, moving the landscape of co-production research away from a requirement for geographical co-presence and potentially shifting power and ownership towards local co-researchers and participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within feminist geography, there is a growing consensus on the need for research to contribute to social change and transformation beyond the academy, and increased emphasis on the co‐production of impact. In this paper I critically reflect and report on how I co‐produced impact with a participatory audio‐visual research project, conducted in collaboration with women in Bogotá and Medellín and researchers and filmmakers based in the UK and Colombia. I focus particularly on co‐producing 'impact‐in‐process', which builds participants' capacities, creates spaces of reciprocal learning and increases participants' confidence and sense of ownership both during and beyond the research process. Yet, while co‐producing impact‐in‐process benefits research participants and has the potential to contribute to social change and transformation, this form of impact is rarely recognised as such. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their article "Ancient gold pectorals from Colombia: Mushroom effigies?" Richard Evans Schultes and Alec Bright gave enough reasons to assure the reader that some goldsmithing pieces exposed mostly in the Museo del Oro located in Bogotá, Colombia that are part of the objects named "Darien Pectorals", are representations of mushrooms. This is evidence of a mushroom cult that was practiced by the inhabitants of the places where these pieces where produced and found. Some of these pieces are located in private collections and museums all over the world. Such ornaments denominated "Darien Pectorals", were not limited to a single region. They mentioned in their article that, these ornaments are not confined to one region, although their greatest concentration seems to be in the Sinu country in northwestern Colombia, near the border with Panama's Darien Province. They are found also in the Quimbaya region of Colombia, farther south." In another part of the article, we find the following: "Interestingly, one such "Darien pectoral" has been found as far north as Chichen Itza in Yucatan, where it undoubtedly found its way as an item of long-distance trade, along with other lower Central American and Colombian gold artifacts." The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ethnomycological knowledge of Colombia, continuing what was proposed by Schultes and Bright, reinforcing their ideas with new evidence based on specialized bibliography and regular visits to the Museo del Oro in Bogotá to the Zenú Collection with the purpose of analyzing the pieces and finding indications that may suggest the possible use of hallucinogenic mushrooms by the indigenous culture of pre-Hispanic Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to estimate the probability of growth aspirations of Colombian entrepreneurs according to the generation in which they were born. There is a large literature on the determinants of the growth aspiration, but there is not much empirical evidence on the possible effects of belonging to a specific generation. We used data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for the period between 2006 and 2017. Specifically, the data were taken from the Adult Population Survey, which measures certain relevant characteristics of entrepreneurs around the world. Based on a sample of 6,670 individuals, three ordinal logistic regression models were estimated, one for each generation: Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y-Millennials. The results show that the youngest entrepreneurs, the Millennials, have a very different conception of life than their predecessors in relation to their view of entrepreneurship as a life choice. In fact, structural factors such as gender, education and motive for entrepreneurship are significant for all generations. However, context-related factors such as their skills, fear of failure, recognition, and their view of entrepreneurship as a desirable career have different effects on each generation. These results are relevant for the development of public policies and business strategies associated with entrepreneurship in developing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study used the capability approach (CA) to explore the English learning experiences of 10 economically vulnerable higher education (HE) students in Colombia in order to better conceptualise English from a capability perspective. In doing so, this paper builds on the empirical and theoretical work of capability scholars which has looked at the role of English in educational settings. It highlights the importance of viewing linguistic capabilities as inchoative since viewing them as fully formed can obscure injustices. These injustices can include poor quality English language education (ELE), an unfavourable financial situation, and a lack of opportunities for exposure to and practice of English. This last-mentioned injustice foregrounds another important dimension of linguistic capabilities: their inter-subjective, relational nature. To aid in this conceptualisation, the paper also draws on Phillipson's [1992. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press] theory of linguistic imperialism to better illustrate how English is implicated in asymmetrical power relations which give rise to oppression and domination. However, this paper also shows how some injustices can be navigated by educationally resilient individuals. The findings of this thesis are therefore of interest not only to language policy experts and other language education stakeholders in developing contexts, but also to capability scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze how the legitimacy of the policy of external quality assurance (EQA) in Colombian higher education has evolved over the past 30 years through an examination of its two main instruments: the compulsory control of minimum quality standards for academic programs and institutions (registro calificado) and accreditations of excellence for programs and institutions. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the methodology of process-tracing, this paper offers a review of the main sequences of the policy of EQA in Colombian higher education: the origins (1990–1998), the expansion (1998–2011) and the contestation (2011–2021). In each sequence, the sources of the substantive and procedural legitimacy of the policy are analyzed. This analysis is based on qualitative data comprising semi-structured interviews with key informants, online information from the 2011 and 2018 student protests and official documentation. Findings: The policy of EQA in Colombian higher education had relatively high levels of substantive and procedural legitimacy during the first two sequences. However, the situation has become more ambivalent since 2011. On the one hand, internal contradictions and student movements' growing criticism of neoliberal policies have undermined some of the foundations of this policy. On the other hand, higher education institutions and the Colombian Government still have a positive perception of EQA and have recently revisited the policy to address some of its shortcomings. Originality/value: From a conceptual standpoint, this paper advances our understanding of how quality assurance in higher education gains, sustains or loses legitimacy by discussing and testing typologies of legitimacy in the analysis of a national system of EQA. From an empirical perspective, this paper provides a diachronic analysis of EQA in Colombian higher education, a case that has primarily been studied through a technical-rational perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how marginal cities surrounded by rich hinterlands in geographies of conflict display city-building processes that transform them into emergent geographies of spatial accumulation. Embracing recent debates on geographies of accumulation in the global South, this paper reveals three interrelated strategies that shape capitalist urbanisation in marginal cities of conflict. The empirical findings of a case study in the Colombian Pacific region indicate that: 1) extractive economies supported by national neoliberal policies nurture weak governance, as reflected in city-building processes that increase sociospatial segregation; 2) the circulation of illegal capital within status quo spatial politics seems to result in rapid urban transformations via land use changes; and 3) spatial accumulation in marginal urban settlements conceals processes of systematic social injustice through euphemisms of economic development. This paper contributes to new conceptualisations derived from an analysis of spatial transformations in marginal(ised) cities under geopolitical economies of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the debate on the migration–remittances–development nexus in Latin America has advanced considerably in recent years, the literature has yet to analyse the socio-political implications of the process of Financialisation of Remittances (FOR) in the region. This paper sheds light on the relationship between the FOR and diaspora engagement policies in Colombia, thus contributing to a growing body of critical analyses on diasporas as agents of development and processes of financialisation beyond the global north. Since the turn of this century, Colombian governments have invested in consolidating part of the state apparatus to capture and maintain the diaspora and their resources connected to the motherland. The paper uses a case study approach centred on a systematic examination of the political–institutional apparatus developed to engage the diaspora and financialise remittances in Colombia over the past 20 years, incorporating a temporal and historical perspective of the triad migration–development–financialisation trends at the national level. It argues that the FOR is a centrepiece of the state's broader strategy for the symbolic and material redefinition of (transnational) membership, in which both, embracing – by extending social and political rights – and tapping – into migrant households' connections to global circuits of capital and finance – elements co-exist This case is illustrative of how a growing number of states are adopting models of diaspora engagement that, on the one hand, feed into the dominant financialised model of development; and on the other, serve as an instrumental strategy in the emerging architecture of the global governance of migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to propose future public policy guidelines (FPPG) in sustainable regional development for Guaviare (Colombia) – a territory affected by environmental and social distress – for the year 2035. Design/methodology/approach: Following collective action theory and sustainable regional development literature, a foresight exercise was conducted using site focus groups and semi-structured interviews with local participants to identify future strategic change drivers and the most relevant social actors for the attainment of economic, social and environmental development in the Guaviare through FPPG. Findings: The findings suggest that the development of public policies regarding building consensus around Guaviare's economic, environmental and social issues, reducing conflict between the region's cultural and environmental ways, decreasing isolation from the centers of decision-making, increasing the transparency of public institutions and reducing insecurity to attract investments are all crucial to attaining sustainable regional development. Originality/value: Interdisciplinarity is implicit in the local perspectives on the problem that impedes sustainable development in San José del Guaviare. The paper's main contribution is the long-term vision that breaks away from the traditional short-termism in public policy guidelines in a Latin American context. Methodologically, the significant contribution is the convergent alignment of specific foresight methods toward public policy guidelines' analysis and design processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first organized feminist movement in Colombia demanded the right for women to vote in 1954 and, despite its progressist agendas and decades of work, it still tends to be distorted by traditional media representation. With social media, these activists can reach the audience directly, disseminate information, and dispute narratives. Hence, this study addresses the question: how are the discourses about feminism constructed on Instagram in Colombia? Based on netnography and critical discourse analysis, the paper analyzes the discussions on publications and comments on the most popular feminist Instagram account in Colombia, @ LasIgualadas. The results indicate that the platform usage could help create a less stereotypical perspective on the movement while informing society on its agendas and raising awareness about rights violations. However, the debate on @LasIgualadas is still predominantly carried out by women (80.5%), and some topics, such as abortion and LGBTQI+ rights, are distorted or deviated from by some Instagram users’ comments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades several Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) have been implemented to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty. More recently, they have also been used as a policy response to provide support to households hit by the COVID crisis. CCTs are being deployed as a development tool to reduce local communities' vulnerability, increasing their resilience and capacity to adapt. In this context, this paper investigates if CCTs can reduce vulnerability to climate change by increasing the adaptative capacity of local communities. Indeed, while some literature has found that CCTs can reduce specific dimensions of vulnerability to socio-economic shocks, we argue that more research is necessary to understand their impact on vulnerability to climate change. Empirically, we use a panel of household survey data collected in Colombia in 2002 and 2006. We employ a difference-in-differences approach to analyse the impact of the CCT programme Familia en Acción (FA) CCTs on rural households. We consider seven components of vulnerability linked to climate change aggregated in an index: wealth, health, access to information, access to basic facilities, financial vulnerability, resilience to natural disasters, and nutrition. Our results differ from previous research and indicate that CCTs provided by the FA program do not decrease vulnerability to climate change. This finding suggests that CCTs are not a universal solution to reducing vulnerability to climate change and may be ineffective in specific contexts. The literature often assumes that CCTs can have a mitigating effect on vulnerability to climate change. Our research shows that in the context of Colombia, this assumption is incorrect. The idea that providing monthly payments to households can reduce vulnerability to climate change should be considered with caution, given limited empirical evidence. Policy makers and scholars should consider the multidimensional nature of vulnerability and design targeted interventions and avoid considering CCTs as a panacea to all aspects of vulnerability to climate change. Our models show that the FA programme failed to have a significant impact in reducing vulnerability to climate change using several different specifications. We show that CCTs do not have an impact on numerous essential components such as wealth, health, access to infrastructure, information and knowledge, financial coping mechanisms, food consumption, and exposure to natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary application of base isolation around the world is in buildings and bridges; however, it could be applied in any structure. The technique has some limitations that, theoretically, reduce its efficiency, such as in tall buildings and soft soil conditions. In this paper, a non-conventional seismic isolated structure is studied to evaluate the benefits of the technique on it. Specifically, a stadium grandstand located in Colombia with hard and soft soil conditions beneath the isolated base is analyzed. The considered structure is important due to its necessity for seismic risk mitigation. It will have a high number of people to evacuate safely during earthquakes, and after them, it could be designated as a humanitarian shelter. The results a) show structural benefits principally in hard soil conditions, b) corroborate and quantify the limitations in soft soil, and c) make recommendations to isolate structures under the conditions studied here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]