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We investigate how local deposit shocks affect bank lending in nonaffected markets for the case where banks mostly neutralize that shock. Colombian banks in oil-producing municipalities experienced deposit outflows after the collapse of oil prices in 2014–2015. Following the shock, we observe that the affected banks increased their credit to non-oil-producing markets by reducing the price of consumer loans and by using market power in both commercial and consumer loans. This paper contributes to understanding how multimarket banks transmit local deposit shocks to other geographic markets to mitigate deposit outflows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of urban transport policies on household welfare are a broadly understudied topic in developing countries. This paper analyzed the distributional effects of a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Barranquilla, Colombia. Using geocoded household survey data over 2008-15 and a difference in differences approach, it showed that, in proximity to newly opened stations, poor households were replaced by non-poor households. These results suggested that the designers of such systems, despite the generally positive assessment of the systems, may have overlooked distributional consequences. Moreover, it showed that results in studies that do not control for the observed changes will be biased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deforestation has been at the heart of the transformation of the Amazon. Global concerns over deforestation and its impact on climate change have resulted in the adoption of a number of initiatives in the framework of zero deforestation. However, undifferentiated application of the concepts of zero net, gross, and illegal deforestation has revealed a lack of understanding of their scope and of challenges to their implementation. Zero legal and illegal deforestation is, in particular, a controversial subject from the point of view of regulation and sovereignty but an essential aspect from the perspective of public policy design. In Colombia, zero deforestation commitments make no mention of legal deforestation. Papers that analyze deforestation and official data sources fail to incorporate the legal dimension in their analysis. This article addresses this gap by identifying areas where deforestation is legal and where it is illegal in one deforestation hotspot of the Colombian Amazon, the administrative department of Guaviare. Our results show that deforestation has increased since 2013, mainly occurs in illegal zones, and that Guaviare department, 85% of which is covered by forest, has very little legal deforestation potential. Our findings reveal that assessing the legality and illegality of deforestation is more complex than often assumed and must become a priority, especially in forested countries where regulation on forest and land management is shared between different level of governments and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores ICT investment and different types of absorptive capacity (realized and potential) as determinants of micro-level TFP in Colombia from 2008 to 2018. Our empirical output suggests that productivity is positively affected by ICT expenditures as well as by the presence of those IT-related potential absorptive capacities that strengthen knowledge acquisition and assimilation inside the plant: online transactions (e-commerce) and the use of network communication platforms(e-communication). Realized absorptive capacities such as R&D cooperation and marketing expenditures (signaling firms' ability to exploit and transform available information) are found to only induce TFP growth if combined with appropriate IT capabilities: R&D collaboration paired with e-communication and, marketing strategies connected with e-commerce. These results remain robust to various productivity indicators, issues of reverse causality (TFP-ICT link) and even to different IT-related proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical reflection on insights into the ongoing endeavours for community engagement by Ayara and MAL; two urban grassroot organisations in Bogota, Colombia, where a long history of internal conflicts has resulted in diverse human right violations. The paper presents examples of the grassroots organisations’ unique methods of engagement that promotes building collective intelligence from the bottom–up through creative collaboration and design processes, leading to rebuilding social fabrics that support the common good for the people of Bogota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Entrepreneurship is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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]

At the beginning of 2016, Colombia was experiencing an energy shortage, and in order to avoid mandatory power cuts, the government launched an unexpected hybrid price/non-price energy-saving policy. In this paper, I evaluate how low-income households in a major Colombian city respond to this policy. Using hourly household electricity consumption data, I find that, on average, households reduce electricity consumption by 4.5% as a result of the policy. It is striking that even lowincome households, who consume relatively small amounts of electricity, respond to energy-saving policies and engage in conservation behaviors in the short term. In my analysis, I also find that the effect is stronger the higher the household pre-treatment electricity consumption levels and smaller among poorer households. However, the heterogeneity in terms of income level vanishes once I control for household pre-program electricity consumption levels. Finally, my point estimates are comparable to the impact estimates of policies that are similar to the one I analyze in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution offers the author's personal experience with a project that took place 25 years ago in Latin America. This was about Second Order Auditing in Colombia during the second part of the 1990s. This project was carried out at the Country's National Auditing Office (CGR), and was an application of the Viable System Model (VSM) and the Viplan Methodology to a National Context. It was an innovative project at the CGR, focused on Second Order Auditing, to improve communications within the fabric of the Colombian government. Its emphasis was building responsible trust between public enterprises, ministries and political agencies. Its emphasis was building communications between ministries and public entities, with the aim of increasing their effectiveness. At its core were methodological and epistemological developments. Key questions it attempted to answer were how to model the complexity of the enterprises and how to transform the auditors' views of their relations with people in public entities, from one focused on requesting information, to one focused on communications. Structural changes were proposed for the National Audit Office and state enterprises, and hundreds of auditors were trained, through epistemological methodological workshops, in second order auditing and the reports of their auditing were debated extensively in government and beyond. This paper finishes with a short discussion of these transformations in the light of organisational cybernetics and in particular of the Viable System Model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the goals of decentralized policies is to consider the differences between regions and municipalities, which can lead to greater economic growth as well as greater economic development in all areas. However, endogenous limitations should also be overcome. For these purposes, policies have been designed and must therefore be evaluated in terms of the consequences. One of the most ambitious policies in Latin America in recent years has been the implementation of the 'General Regalías system' in Colombia. This paper will assess whether this policy has led to significant changes in the fiscal performance of the municipalities in the Valle del Cauca region, in which the most important city is Cali. We found that this policy was not able to change the 'neighborhood contagion' observed before implementation. This is an important conclusion of the study, which includes the spatial dependence to explain the fiscal performance of the municipalities. Through an exploratory analysis of spatial data (AEDE), we verified that the referenced system failed to reach its most ambitious objectives, raising the need for another type of public policy instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of bank market power on the interest rates charged for loans to nonfinancial firms within the context of a developing country. Employing a distinctive amalgamation of data encompassing banks, firms, and loan specifics, alongside panel data fixed-effect models, we elucidate that banks wielding greater market power tend to impose higher interest rates on their loan products. This effect becomes more pronounced for banks positioned at the upper echelons of the market power spectrum (relative market power) and in instances of lengthier credit relationships. However, its severity can be mitigated for firms managing multiple credit connections (subjective market power). Our findings shed light on the presence of practices aimed at extracting economic rents and accentuate the substantial costs associated with changing lending partners in the corporate credit landscape. Various papers have delved into the empirical examination of how competition impacts the accessibility and expenses tied to bank credit for nonfinancial firms, yielding a mosaic of outcomes. Our contribution to this body of the literature manifests as a more incisive empirical analysis, enabling us to disentangle the opposing dynamics at play. This analytical depth is achievable solely due to the exceptional dataset we have curated. Significantly, our study stands out as one of the initial endeavors to interlink dynamic, bank-level gauges of market power with directly observed interest rates at the firm level, all while controlling for bank and loan-specific characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being on average a relatively happy country, Colombia has a high level of inequality in subjective well-being (SWB). Using Gallup World Poll data for the period from 2010 to 2018, this paper tests the direction and strength of association of a range of objective and subjective factors with SWB and explains differences in SWB across individuals and space. The perceived welfare of the average Colombian is mainly influenced by conditions and expectations related to economic opportunities and education. However, quantile regressions, reveal substantial differences in the domains that matter to those at the bottom and top of the experienced welfare distribution. Standard-of-living improvements, housing affordability, and civic engagement matter more to the most fortunate top 20%, while having education, a job, sufficient income, economic security, and digital connectivity are much more strongly associated with the well-being of the bottom 20%. The life domains that matter more to the unhappiest respondents also explain the majority of the spatial differences in perceived welfare between residents in urban and rural areas as well as core and peripheral regions. Policy actions aimed at closing the gaps in these areas have the potential to increase well-being and reduce inequality in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Historical Archaeology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Stunting (low height for age) is a crucial indicator for measuring child well-being and economic and social development of a country. Despite a decrease in overall children's stunting in the last decades, there are still significant geographic disparities between urban and rural areas in Colombia. This paper aims to identify the role of the main determinants of children's stunting in explaining the urban-rural stunting gap. We use data from the 2015 National Nutritional Situation Survey (the most recent available dataset) and the Yun's statistical decomposition technique. We find that the urban-rural gap in child stunting is 7.2 percentage points. Three determinants: household wealth, maternal education, and health services utilization, explain most of the gap (92%). Each determinant explains 54%, 26%, and 12% of the characteristics effect, respectively. Public health policies aiming to reduce the gap must seek improvements in access to institutional delivery and education services for mothers in rural areas in the short term. In the long term, increasing economic wealth in rural areas is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: General surgeons, anesthesiologists, obstetricians and gynecologists (ob–gyns), and orthopedic surgeons are the vital disciplines to provide emergency surgery within a healthcare system. This paper aims to examine the relationship (if any) between multidimensional poverty (MDP) and GDP per-capita with the emergency surgery workforce density in Colombia. Methods: We performed an ecological study, where the observation units were the 32 Colombian departments. The total numbers of general surgeons, anesthesiologists, ob–gyns, and orthopedic surgeons were obtained from the "Registro Unico Nacional de Talento Humano en Salud" (ReTHUS) registry. The 2020 population projections, the incidence of MDP and the GDP per capita were obtained from the Colombian National Administrative Department of Statistics. A spearman's correlation coefficient was calculated to measure the strength of the correlations between the surgical workforce density with MDP and GDP per-capita. Results: There were significant moderate inverse linear correlations between the incidence of multidimensional poverty and workforce density. The correlation coefficients for the incidence of multidimensional poverty and the workforce density were − 0.5273, − 0.5620, − 0.4704, and − 0.4612 for surgeons, anesthesiologists, ob–gyns, and orthopedic surgeons, respectively. Conversely, the correlation coefficients for the GDP per-capita and the workforce density were 0.4045, 0.3822, 0.4404, and 0.3742 for surgeons, anesthesiologists, ob–gyns, and orthopedic surgeons, respectively. Conclusion: This study found that Colombian trauma and emergency surgery workforce density was inversely and directly correlated with multidimensional poverty and GDP per-capita levels, respectively. The relationship of these economic indicators with the surgical capacity deserves further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the end of World War II, when the world learned about the Holocaust, manifestations of antisemitism grew in Colombia as echoes of what was happening in other countries, both in the region and globally. This paper examines three such manifestations that occurred between 1945 and 1948: Echo 1 concerns an urban campaign against Jews during 1945 by conspirators who handed out flyers or pamphlets with antisemitic messages. Echo 2 concerns the only violence against Jewish traders in Colombian history. It happened in 1946 and culminated in 44 warehouses being destroyed and several Jews being beaten. And Echo 3 concerns the renowned case of the SS Exodus (1947), whose 4500 Jewish travelers presented Colombian visas to leave Europe. The recognition of these activities constitutes a contribution to the field of history, to Jewish communities, and to the study of antisemitism, with the aim of remembering those minorities excluded and challenged in such contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on the role and economic effect of the factors that affect the endogenous growth of organizations. To this end, it analyzes the case of Colombian companies, whose economy has been characterized in Latin America by maintaining a traditional economic policy and sectors that seek to maximize the opportunities offered by international markets. This study seeks to identify and analyze the factors that influence the endogenous economic growth of organizations and that allow them to be sustainable over time. For this purpose, adaptation algorithms based on fuzzy logics and supervised and unsupervised learning methods were used, generating an adaptation strategy that allows classifying and knowing the endogenous growth of companies in the Colombian context and identifying the most relevant aspects to take into account. Finally, it was found that most Colombian companies focus their business policies on strengthening human capital, followed by innovation, financial resources and, to a lesser extent, strategic alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares labor market flows between a developing economy, Colombia, and a developed one, the United States (US). In a comparative framework, we explore measures of labor market flows across dimensions such as firm size, age, and economic sector. This comparison allows us testing, for both countries, a series of interesting hypothesis suggested in the literature, namely the negative systematic relationship between firm size/age and employment growth rate. We find that labor market fluidity in the US labor market is substantially higher than in Colombia and that the churning rate is twice as high for the US market as it is for the Colombian one. We argue that this fluidity gap between the two economies can be explained by, among other factors, the rigid nature of Colombian labour market institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate entrepreneurship creates opportunities in employment, technological advances, value creation, and cultural transformation for entrepreneurial ecosystems, entrepreneurs, governments, economies, and society around the globe. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of corporate entrepreneurship on the financial performance of subsidiaries in Colombian business groups under the moderating effect of the environmental dynamism, because the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and financial performance in emerging economies must differ from developed economies. Using a cross-sectional structural equation modeling analysis, this study assessed the impact of entrepreneurial orientation and corporate venturing on the firm financial performance of 87 subsidiaries of Colombian business groups at different levels of environmental dynamism. This study also confirms that the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and performance is context-dependent and that entrepreneurial orientation has a strong and positive causal relationship with corporate venturing. Additionally, subsidiaries of Colombian business groups increase their financial performance when also does the entrepreneurial orientation, and decrease financial performance when so does corporate venturing. Furthermore, the results show that environmental dynamism does not have a moderating effect on the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship of subsidiaries in Colombian business groups and their performance. This paper would contribute to important areas in Latin America business, where such studies are scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the conceptualizations of organized crime as both an enterprise and a form of governance, borderland as a spatial category, and borders as institutions, this paper looks at the politics of bordering practices by organized crime in the Colombian-Venezuelan borderlands. It posits that contrary to the common assumptions about transnational organized crime, criminal organizations not only blur or erode the border but rather enforce it to their own benefit. In doing so, these groups set norms to regulate socio-spatial practices, informal and illegal economies, and migration flows, creating overlapping social orders and, lastly, (re)shaping the borderland. Theoretically, the analysis brings together insights from political geography, border studies, and organized crime literature, while empirically, it draws on direct observation, criminal justice data, and in-depth interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a framework to analyze how political actors adopt social media in systems characterized by clientelism and populism, tracing the consequences and disruptive capabilities of the forms of social media adoption. The framework proceeds in two analytical stages. The first locates actors' structural positions in the political system (internal/external) and their relationship with the mainstream media (allied/antagonistic). The second builds on pragmatism focusing on iterative problem situations actors face that explain forms of social media adoption. In examining the structural positions and problem-solving stages of Colombian political actors, this article articulates three paths of adoption: habit preservation, internal innovation, and external innovation. Preservationists understand the new technology in old terms, projecting their understandings of old media onto the new one. Internal innovators combine clientelist practices and communication ones, upholding core routines while integrating new ones; they show a potential to reshape the system internally, making viable part of it, but changing the balance of power between existing elites. External innovators develop practices that integrate physical spaces and online communication, displaying a disruptive potential for existing core practices and the political system. In this way, the framework and empirical case link and develop the literatures on clientelism and political communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attenuation of distortion caused by the shallow layer generates reliable subsoil's pictures, which static corrections attempt to do, under the assumption of surface consistency. However, such an assumption is frequently invalid, and nowadays, this problem is still unsolved. Besides, the first break handpicking is monotonous, many men hours consuming task and prone to human error, mainly when different persons process a project's high data volume. This paper presents a new method to redatuming seismic data by transforming the data to the ray path domain, avoiding the consistent surface restriction. As it does not require first break picking, it becomes automatable and less prone to human error. The application of static correction and seismic interferometry to synthetic and real data allowed the comparison between both approaches' performances. Besides, an AVO analysis of the processed lines allowed knowing how interferometry affects the reflection amplitudes. Seismic interferometry has two steps: transforming the gathers to the ray-consistent domain and constructing a time corrected function and its inverse filter. The convolution of the inverse filter with the gathers generates seismic records free of distortions. The trace mixing constructs the reference wavefield, which has more stable data with a well-being S/N ratio. Compared with static corrections, the interferometry supplies enhanced and reliable subsoil images, particularly in deep and steep reflectors. Additionally, after applying interferometry, AVO analysis of data indicated errors comparable to those of static corrections. On the other hand, seismic interferometry is a more resource-consuming method that requires a high-skill processor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building of knowledge about current risks from changes in air temperature has been established as critical for informing the starting point for human health risk assessments in a climate-changing world. The study presented in this paper provides the application of the maximum/minimum temperature complex method in Colombia to identify the simultaneous behavior of daily extremes of air temperature and provide a tool to assess human health risks due to temperature variability. An established classification of mean temperatures exists for the country, and maximum and minimum temperatures have been studied but never as simultaneous variables. The max/min temperature complex analysis aims to describe the air temperature regime of a particular place by studying the frequency of simultaneous occurrence of extreme daily temperatures. The study consisted of the construction of a contingency table that combines the behavior of the daily maximum and minimum temperatures using a subdivision of 5 °C intervals. A 5-year (2010–2015)-long dataset of 171 weather stations from the entire territory was prepared by identifying, filtering, and completing the missing data. Frequencies of occurrence of each interval were arranged in descending order to select the intervals of frequencies above 10%. Then, they were classified into categories, types, and subtypes. Six categories, seven types, and fifty-one subtypes were identified and mapped to ascertain their geographical distribution. In contrast with other climate regime classifications, our study found a regionalization of daily extremes of temperature that can be analyzed in different scales of time and space to aid health risk analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures inequality of opportunity in adult health in Colombia using the 2010 Living Standards and Social Mobility Survey, a rich dataset that provides unique information about individual childhood circumstances in that country. Dissimilarity and Gini-opportunity indexes are calculated to provide different measures of inequality of opportunity using a self-reported variable for health status. The Shapley-value decomposition is then used to estimate the contribution of early-life circumstances such as parental background, region of origin and ethnicity to inequality of opportunity. The findings suggest that 8 % to 10 % of the circumstance-driven opportunities distinctively enjoyed by those who are healthier should be redistributed or otherwise compensated in order to achieve equality of opportunity. Differences in household socio-economic status during childhood and parental educational attainment appear to be the most salient dimensions of inequality of opportunity in adult health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nevado del Ruiz Volcano (NRV) had a phreatomagmatic eruption in 1985. The eruption partially melted the volcano's ice cap leading to floods and lahars flowing down to nearby towns, which killed at least 25,000 people. This event has raised particular importance of monitoring activity including small eruptions at ice-capped high-altitude volcanoes. However, the high altitude makes it difficult to maintain monitoring stations near the summit crater. Moreover, the visibility of the summit area is frequently prevented by clouds. In this paper, we report the results of a feasibility study for detecting thermal anomalies and small eruptions using satellite thermal remote sensing and ground-based infrasound technique. We newly included South and Central America to the observation areas of the near-real-time monitoring system of the active volcanoes, which uses infrared images from satellites. We also operated three infrasound stations in the distances of 4–6 km from the active crater. Each of the stations consisted of a pair of infrasound sensors, and a cross-correlation technique was applied. The thermal and infrasound data acquisition started in August 2015 and December 2016, respectively, and recorded the recent dome-forming activity of NRV. We proposed parameters representing the visibility of the thermal anomalies and infrasound signals. These parameters are useful for monitoring because the severe weather condition at NRV frequently prevents signal detections. We discussed the detected thermal anomalies and infrasound signals in comparison with their visibilities and the changes in the volcanic activity of NRV reported by the local observatory. The thermal anomaly and infrasound detections were consistent with the high eruptive activity occurring at the NRV from October 2015 to May 2017 and its subsequent decline. Within the active period, there were breaks in the detections of thermal anomaly and infrasound. The visibility analyses allowed us to interpret the breaks as a result of bad weather conditions and to distinguish them from the confirmed low-activity periods after May 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to focus on the way in which land transformation related to the grabbing process are directly involved in people's livelihoods and life projects. We use the term territorial grabbing instead of green grabbing (or just land grabbing), because even though the case that we illustrate in our work can be describe as a green grab, we make a call for the necessity of a comprehensive analysis of the socio-spatial implications that polices such as the governmental environmental conservation agenda can implicate for individuals and communities in terms of impacts, influences, and [re]significations of their territories and territorialities. Therefore, our objective is to go beyond the discussion on the appropriation of land and resources for environmental purposes (and therefore the discussion of land dynamics in relation to globalization, foreign investment, markets liberalization, violence, and control) to bring also into the debate the diverse socio-spatial implications and meanings that create a geographical imagination capable of having profound influences on the way in which people and groups understand their place in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous multidimensional indices for the Colombian context, such as the Unmet Basic Needs Index or the Living Conditions Index, have lost their public policy relevance and arguably have become poor instruments for poverty measurement. This paper presents the Colombian Multidimensional Poverty Index (CMPI), a synthetic indicator that overcomes the methodological problems from previous multidimensional indices and has a broad public policy scope of use. The CMPI is based on the methodology of Alkire and Foster (J Public Econ 95:476-478, ) and is composed of five dimensions (education of household members, childhood and youth conditions, health, employment and access to household utilities and living conditions). Additionally, it uses a nested weighting structure, where each dimension is equally weighted, as is each indicator within each dimension. This paper proposes the CMPI for tracking multiple deprivations across the national territory, to monitor public policies by sector and to design poverty reduction goals, among other public policy uses. Analysis of the results demonstrates that multidimensional poverty in Colombia decreased between 1997 and 2010 in both urban and rural areas, but imbalances remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we experimentally evaluate Colombia's Think Equal program, which teaches socioemotional skills to children ages 3 to 6. Given the context of COVID-19, the original design was adapted as a hybrid model, alternating in-person and remote instruction and engaging families in the implementation of the curriculum. We found that the program had positive effects on children's prosocial behavior, self-awareness, and cognitive learning. The intervention also had an impact on the education center's personnel (community mothers) and caregivers implementing the activities. Treated community mothers had higher levels of empathy, lower negative health symptoms, better pedagogical practices, and a closer relationship with the children's caregivers compared with those in the control group. Treated caregivers had better stimulation practices and lower negative health symptoms compared with those in the control group. These findings suggest that a well-designed intervention has the potential to develop socioemotional skills in children at an early age and, at the same time, to develop capacities in those who implement the activities. Our results have important implications for the design, implementation, and evaluation of early childhood socioemotional learning programs and provide novel evidence about the challenges faced by interventions combining face-to-face and remote learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Watersheds constitute a special case of multiple-use common pool resources (CPRs). In a textual sense, watersheds tend to be mosaics of privately owned and managed patches of land. At the same time, however, watersheds are also ecosystems in which multiple resources and people interact through an infinity of bio-physical processes. Through such interaction, new watershed-level qualities emerge that, together with other factors, condition watershed users' continued resource use and access. In this perspective, watersheds become common-pool resources. Hence, watershed users do not only manage their individual plots, crops, forests, etc., knowingly or not, they manage landscape patterns and bio-physical processes that transcend their private property. In this context, drawing on experiences gained through participatory action research in a micro-watershed in the Andean hillsides of southern Colombia, this paper describes a process aimed at fostering collective watershed management. The paper illustrates the importance of platforms as a mechanism for negotiating and coordinating collective action by multiple users and discusses the issues of representation on such platforms as well as the importance of third party facilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I estimate the effect of the Venezuelan exodus on the Colombian labor market. The economic and social crisis in Venezuela triggered one of the most important migratory exoduses in recent decades: more than 4 million Venezuelans left their country and close to 1.8 million arrived in Colombia. I show that an increase in 1 p.p of labor supply due the migratory flow caused a decline in hourly wages in Colombia of 0.4% and a negative effect of 0.1 p.p. on the employment rate of low-skilled workers. The drop in wages was greater for men, low-skilled and informal workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the association between the Colombian Armed Internal Conflict (AIC) and fertility for women in the first decade of the 21st century when the conflict underwent a strategic change after the escalation of armed action by outlaw groups and frontal response by the Colombian government. We fit a Poisson model that incorporates spatial and temporal information, using individual-level data from the Colombian Demographic and Health Surveys from 2000 to 2010 and novel information, for the Colombian case, on the number of armed actions. In rural areas, we find that the AIC had a significant positive association with fertility and non-significant relationship in urban areas, of any size with robust and consistent estimators. Two possible explanations may clarify these results for a long-term conflict such as that in Colombia: (i) women's responses to higher mortality levels and (ii) the weakening of local institutions assumed to provide protection and health-related services to women. Other than the improvement of health-related services in areas affected by the conflict, we also suggest data collection on these latter conditions directly from the population involved to facilitate future research on the connection between conflicts and demographic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several insurgent groups have financed their arms procurement through drug trafficking, explaining in part the long duration of conflicts in drug producing countries. Incomes generated from this trade do not however automatically translate into improved military capabilities, since access to military-grade weapons typically requires tacit or active state support. Hence, two groups with similar types of funding can still have access to very different types of armaments, impacting their operational capability. This paper compares the arms procurement of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Myanmar. Both insurgent groups have procured arms through networks and with finances from the drug trade. The UWSA's 20,000-strong force and significant armaments, including Man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) believed to be provided by China, is largely supported by these illicit activities and the networks they provide. FARC has ample access to small arms, the acquisition of which has been financed by taxation of the drug trade. In spite of significant incomes, FARC however until very recently lacked access to MANPADS, a fact which has significantly hampered its ability to withstand the Colombian counterinsurgency campaign, specifically targeted aerial assaults. The exploratory comparisons drawn in this paper offer insights into how insurgent groups can pass a crucial threshold of arms procurement, funded by illicit activities, that renders their dissolution far more difficult, while also highlighting the continued importance of state support in explaining rebel group resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general terms, computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a new educational paradigm that includes the use of technology to support learning activities. These CSCL environments can be used in a number of subjects (e.g. science, mathematics, language). As CSCL not only involves the implementation of technology or the design of online educational content, researchers have proposed inclusive models which highlight different dimensions of CSCL as a process. These models can then guide CSCL educators and designers improve the design, the experience, the management, and the evaluation of CSCL. However, the use of these models still needs to enable different CSCL stakeholders reflect on the values, purposes and impacts of their efforts. This paper presents a systemic framework that facilitates exploration of the inter-connections between the different aspects of CSCL, and enables a preliminary evaluation of its impacts in a particular context of application. The framework is then used to evaluate a Colombian CSCL project in the area of mathematical problem-solving (MPS). We report on the achievements of this project and in future possibilities to improve CSCL efforts in Colombia and elsewhere. These suggestions can help educators and other CSCL stakeholders to be sensitive and to respond to particular contextual conditions which can contribute to the success of CSCL initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is a prevalent condition. The change in glucose control and body weight with the use of once-weekly semaglutide was evaluated in individuals with Type 2 diabetes in Colombia. Methods: This was a real-world, multi-centre, single-arm study involving adults in Colombia with Type 2 diabetes treated with once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide for approximately 26 weeks. The primary endpoint assessed the change in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) from baseline to end of study. Secondary endpoints included changes in body weight from baseline to end of study. The study also explored the proportion of participants achieving predefined HbA1c targets and weight-loss responses at the end of the study. Results: Data from 225 patients across 11 centers were collected. Most patients were women (65%), and the mean age of the population was 57 years with a median HbA1c of 7.6% and a median body weight of 86 kg. After approximately 26 weeks, semaglutide was associated with a significant reduction in HbA1c of − 0.88 and a body weight reduction of − 4.04kg. The proportion of patients with HbA1c < 7% increased from 32 to 66% at end of study. Conclusion: Patients treated with once-weekly semaglutide experienced a clinically significant reduction in HbA1c and body weight. These results are in line with previous clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship has seen the peace agreement between Colombian government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) guerrillas a milestone in closing more than 50 years of internal armed conflict. Indeed, the traditional practice of subversive warfare between the two sides ended. However, this did not imply a true path to peacebuilding. The empirical and statistical evidence indicates the worsening of the conflict through the transformation of its practices and representations, into terrorism and transnational organized crime. This article contends that the FARC, as a political party, a new insurgent group, and a criminal actor, continues to have a main role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many Latin American countries, the state is to inform communities about proposed large-scale development that affects them, often in a public hearing on the environmental impact study (estudio de impacto ambiental, EIA). This article explores the role of the EIA public hearing in environmental governance, specifically in terms of local community participation in extractives. Analysis of nine mining and hydrocarbon conflicts in Colombia and Peru reveals that sometimes the public hearing is a space for project opponents alone to participate intensively, with a focus on altering development outcomes; in other cases, activists and project supporters compete at hearings; and, finally, some communities eschew the hearing entirely. The study points to two factors to explain this variation: first, whether the public hearing is a mandatory stage in environmental licensing, and second, the cohesion of impacted communities. Running counter to existing criticisms of the structures that govern public hearings in Colombian environmental licensing, the article finds that the hurdle for Colombian communities of requesting the hearing has contributed to effective organizing by movements opposed to large-scale development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of fires in informal settlements has been recognized as a global phenomenon, affecting thousands of people annually and representing an extreme risk for millions. Informal settlements are characterized by poor infrastructure, lack of access to essential services and dwellings built from flammable materials. Their vulnerability to fire is extreme as even where losses are minimal fires ruin lives, damage property, and undermine socioeconomic development. Currently, there is a great need to understand the proportion and characteristics of the problem around the world. As an attempt to help fill this knowledge gap, this paper presents a detailed description of the problem of informal settlement fires in Colombia. This investigation includes the contextualization of the problem, a morphological description of several common dwelling types, and their socio-economic characteristics in terms of the number of people, physical conditions, and provision of services. The statistics associated with informal settlement fires in Colombia are reported, with emphasis on the number of dwellings destroyed, people affected, ignition sources and challenges for fire suppression operations. Finally, a case study highlighting the development of a typical informal settlement fire in Colombia is presented. The results reported in this paper are suitable to support emergency protocols and prevention strategies aiming to mitigate the risk associated with informal settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality of work (QoW) encompasses multiple objective and subjective dimensions, which may include labor income, job stability, job satisfaction, and social security. This paper follows the method proposed by Gómez-Salcedo et al. (2013) that introduces a new way of measuring QoW, which consists of (1) the use of Sen's functioning and capabilities approach and (2) a fuzzy sets method to define membership to the sets of good job quality. Using the Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares, we obtain results at the national level about age, gender, educational level, firm size, and industry sector. The results are consistent with previous literature. One topic that is highlighted from our results is the existence of a 'Quality of Work Life Cycle', with higher levels of the index up to age 30, that may have critical implications for the social security system; people with lower quality jobs may not be contributing to health and pension funds, leaving many people without access to a retirement fund and implying more demands on the subsidized system to cover health expenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the efficiency of crop and livestock production in Colombia by using a sample of 1565 households. The study considers households located in different production systems which differ in geography, climate and soil types. These conditions affect technical efficiency and thus render analysis under the same production frontier as inadequate. For this reason, stochastic metafrontier techniques are preferred, allowing the estimation of technical efficiency within each production system and between production systems in relation to the sector as a whole. Results suggest that households in some production systems could be benefiting from better production conditions due to advantages in the availability of natural resources and climate as well as to more favorable socio-economic conditions. Additionally, we found that, in all systems, households with higher production have higher measures of technical efficiency. Thus, significant gains could be achieved in the sector through measures that contribute to improve the efficiency of households within their production systems and by policies that help reduce the technology gap in relation to the meta-frontier. These policies would bring positive impacts on the quality of life of small farmers and on the productivity of the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that the design and application of suitable and robust science, technology and innovation (STI) policies and appropriate STI institutions promote development, economic growth and competitiveness in the long run. This paper analyses the dynamics of STI in Colombia over the 1995–2019 period to determine its relationship with its most important determinants and its collateral relationship with economic growth as an input affecting different issues; this work takes into account the creation of the new ministry of science, technology and innovation (MSTI) and uses different time series techniques. According to the analysis, a positive relationship exists between investments in research and development, STI activities, and the independence and transparency of STI management by the new MSTI, which could generate higher productivity, technological change, economic growth and development. The results of the models also demonstrate the long-run relationship and short-run dynamics related to STI investment and research results and the importance of transparency and independence. It is important to establish adequate STI governance and allow new ministries to play an important role to achieve a society based on knowledge that produces relevant research, technology and innovation based on the needs and resources of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Magdalena-Cauca basin, which covers 24% of the Colombian continental territory and is inhabited by about 80% of the Colombian population, expresses the greatest ecosystem loss and serious socio-environmental problems. This basin occupies an area of approx. 27 million hectares. The literature about the economic valuation of ecosystem services (ES) and the spatial information on natural resources in the Magdalena-Cauca basin was revised through several information sources to document the earliest approximation to the state, spatial distribution, and economic value of the remnant natural capital at the scale of biomes, specific ecosystems, and political-administrative units, through the application of the benefit transfer method for 2020. Our assessment estimated a natural capital loss of 1.5 trillion Int.$2020/year (more than 100% of Colombian GDP in 2020) and a remnant natural capital worth 469 billion Int.$2020/year (more than 100% of Colombia's GDP in 2020) for 15 ecosystem services. This research establishes that a potential expansion in livestock production systems will generate an additional loss of natural capital between 175 and 450 billion Int.$2020/year. Lastly, the policy and management challenges concerning this remnant natural capital in the Magdalena-Cauca basin are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study's objective was to understand Colombian adolescents' experiences and preferences regarding access to sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS), either alone or accompanied. A mixed-method approach was used, involving a survey of 812 participants aged eleven to twenty-four years old and forty-five semi-structured interviews with participants aged fourteen to twenty-three. Previous research shows that adolescents prefer privacy when accessing SRHS and often do not want their parents involved. Such findings align with the longstanding tendency to frame the ethical principle of autonomy as based on independence in decision-making. However, the present study shows that such a conceptualization and application of autonomy does not adequately explain Colombian adolescent participants' preferences regarding access to SRHS. Participants shared a variety of preferences to access SRHS, with the majority of participants attaching great importance to having their parents involved, to varying degrees. What emerges is a more complex and non-homogenous conceptualization of autonomy that is not inherently grounded in independence from parental involvement in access to care. We thus argue that when developing policies involving adolescents, policymakers and health professionals should adopt a nuanced "relational autonomy" approach to better respect the myriad of preferences that Colombian (and other) adolescents may have regarding their access to SRHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to investigate the effect of teachers' motivation on students' scientific literacy and motivation in Colombia. These relationships are explored using a multilevel modeling framework and through the lens of Self-Determination Theory. Although difficulties in achieving education quality in developing and emerging economies are commonly attributed to teacher motivation issues, and important policy measures are implemented based on this assumption, this topic remains largely empirically unexplored. The purpose of the study is to contribute to fill this gap and provide empirically based insights for a broader and more informed dialogue regarding the effect of motivation in the development of scientific literacy, and to the design and implementation of evidence-based policies, instructional practices, and interventions. In this analysis, we did not find a significant relationship between teacher motivation and either students' scientific literacy or motivation. However, students' interest in science and sense of self-efficacy were significantly associated with their own achievement. The results also show that teacher-directed instruction is the strongest predictor of scientific literacy as opposed to inquiry-based teaching. However, inquiry-based teaching was found to be a positive predictor of increased students' motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Colombian Demographic and Health Survey, I document a positive association between intimate partner violence against women and the likelihood of women's employment. This finding persists when I exploit the husband's own childhood experience of abuse as a source of plausibly exogenous variation for the incidence of domestic violence. To explore potential mechanisms underlying this association, I use a mediation analysis in the presence of intermediate confounders. I find suggestive evidence that a woman's decision-making power—measured by active input in household and healthcare decisions—as well as a measure for willingness to divorce are likely mediators. I argue that abused women may hold jobs to increase their economic independence and potentially exit abusive relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security scholarship and policy tends to embrace the nutrition status of individual men, women and children as the end-goal of food security efforts. While there has been much value in investigating and trying to ensure sufficient nutrition for struggling households around the world, this overriding emphasis on nutrition status has reduced our understandings of what constitutes food adequacy. While token attention has been paid to more qualitative ideas like 'cultural appropriateness,' food security scholars and policy makers have been unable to understand the broader value of food, which exceeds its caloric and nutrient counts. Drawing on empirical work from Medellín, Colombia, the paper argues that having adequate food means much more than simply sufficient nutrient intake, perhaps especially among marginalized groups. Exploring the case of food insecure women from Colombia who were forcibly displaced from rural to urban, we demonstrate how understandings of food adequacy must consider the social and environmental imaginaries of marginalized groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large screening of around 1,000 emerging contaminants, focused on licit and illicit drugs and their metabolites, has been made in urban wastewaters (both influent and effluent) and surface waters from the area of Bogotá, Colombia. After a simple generic solid-phase extraction (SPE) step with Oasis hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced (HLB) cartridges, analyses were made by ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF MS) under MS mode (sequential acquisition of mass spectra at low energy (LE) and high collision energy (HE)). Accurate mass measurements and the information provided by MS on the presence of the (de)protonated molecule and fragment ions allowed the reliable identification of the compounds detected, even without reference standards being available in some cases (tentative identification). The compounds most frequently found were acetaminophen/paracetamol, carbamazepine and its dihydro-dihydroxylated metabolite, clarithromycin, diclofenac, ibuprofen, gemfibrozil, lincomycin, losartan, valsartan, the two metabolites of metamizole (4-acetamido-antipyrine and 4-formylamino-antipyrine), sucralose, and cocaine and its main metabolite benzoylecgonine. Caffeine, the sweetener saccharin, and two hydroxylated metabolites of losartan were tentatively identified in almost all samples analyzed. Pharmaceutical lidocaine was tentatively identified and subsequently confirmed with reference standard. For the first time, a general overview of the occurrence of drugs and their metabolites in the aquatic environment of Colombia has been reported. In the near future, target methodologies, typically based on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), will need to be set up for accurate and sensitive quantification of the contaminants selected on the basis on the information provided in the present paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the forecast skill provided by the tropical Pacific Sea Surface Temperature (SST) associated with El Niño and El Niño Modoki over seasonal precipitation in Colombia has been evaluated through a lagged singular value decomposition analysis. The seasonal rainfall in many parts of the country can be predicted with suitable skill using the SST with a lead of one to four seasons. The response of precipitation to different phases of El Niño or El Niño Modoki is consistent with the state of the atmospheric fields of vertical velocity and velocity potential. Winter presents the best results for the prediction model, explaining the greatest percentage of square covariance fraction between the SST and lagged precipitation anomalies. The predictive capacity of these variability modes of SST for rainfall in Colombia is comparable or even higher in some seasons, particularly in winter, than the SST ability to explain the behavior of the precipitation during coetaneous seasons. The forecast of seasonal precipitation in Colombia validated in this work could be useful for planning and managing natural water resources in some regions of the country, particularly for the driest season of the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neotropical landscapes are often characterized as mosaics of actively grazed pastures and forest fragments at various stages of succession. Restoring abandoned pastures requires intervening with actions informed by local ecological succession. Here we evaluate how litter production, a key component of nutrient cycling in forests, varies between physiographic landscapes (hill and lowland mountain), among stand age groups (early-secondary: 0–20 year, intermediate-secondary: 20–40 year, and old-growth forests: > 40 year), and in response to climatic (precipitation and irradiation) and forest structure and biodiversity variables (stand density, basal area, species density, diversity), in a tropical humid forest chronosequence. Total and leaf litter production was higher in the lower elevation hill landscape. Leaf litter production increased with stand age in both landscapes but only correlated positively with forest structure and biodiversity in the hill landscape. Lack of correlation in the mountain landscape is attributed to greater variance in structure and species composition in the subset of plots selected from this landscape for this study. Both landscapes exhibited an asynchronous, bimodal regime of leaf fall in response to precipitation. Leaf litter peaks prior to the wet season likely occur in response to water stress, while peaks after the wet season that coincided with increasing solar irradiation are likely the result of a leaf turnover strategy to optimize photosynthesis. Ecological succession in these landscapes does not appear limited in leaf litter production, but further research on the drivers of leaf litter production recovery is necessary to adequately guide intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The profound interdependence between geodiversity, biodiversity and cultural assets is the foundation for numerous recent studies on geodiversity. Given the need to incorporate this angle into research on the subject in Colombia, we propose a geodiversity characterisation which aims at its inclusion as an integrating part of the management of natural resources. The subject of this study is the Alto Ricaurte region, situated in central Colombia, approximately 160 km northeast of the capital, renowned for its internationally significant paleontological heritage and rich cultural and archaeological elements. To understand the interaction between society, geodiversity and the biotic nature, our methodology builds upon the Guidelines for geoconservation in protected and conserved areas by the IUCN, an international framework. For this, we have established three key stages. The first stage entails an overview of the region’s geodiversity, providing a comprehensive description of the geodiversity elements. The second stage deepens our understanding of geodiversity as an integral part of the landscape, as well as its connections with people and culture, by describing the values of geodiversity and the geosystem services it provides to the local population. Finally, the geoconservation diagnosis enables us to identify the main threats and conservation issues that may hinder effective management and geoconservation actions on geodiversity. Our findings include a classification of geodiversity into seven thematic areas, an inventory of 19 geological sites and the identification of several geoconservation issues. The major challenges to geoconservation in the area are land ownership, land development and expansion, quarrying of construction material, tourism pressure and lack of awareness. Overall, this approach provided a solid foundation for characterising the geodiversity of the territory and offered insights for natural resource management and land use planning. This study also demonstrates that the geodiversity in the Alto Ricaurte region extends beyond its well-known palaeontological and stratigraphic sites of scientific interest. It is important to note that this characterisation is based on scientific information but is vigorously supported by local knowledge acquired through surveys, interviews and informal conversations with the inhabitants. We hope that the results presented in this publication will motivate a responsible and planned use of geodiversity resources in the study area, as well as the development of geoconservation and management strategies that acknowledge its complex integration with the broader natural diversity and with the cultural and socio-economic dimensions of this territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since their introduction in Colombia in the '80s for Pablo Escobar's extravagant zoo, hippos have become an ecological problem around the basin of the Magdalena River. This article proposes an ecosemiotic discourse analysis of different visions of nature enacted by stakeholders and public opinion around the management of hippos in Colombia. Concretely, we focus on three particular discourses and visions of nature: animalista, narco-cultural, and conservacionista. In this article, we present the relevant social and ecological context of Colombia, the visions of nature theory and the impact of such visions on conservation measures regarding so-called invasive species; we describe and analyze the three visions of nature we center on, and present a computational analysis of discourse dynamics and controversies in Twitter between of such visions of nature; and we reflect on possible courses of action and recommendations about addressing the close interrelation of public discourses and ecosystem conservation by proposing an alternative view, based on the biosemiotic framework of semiocide, to the concept of invasive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]