Abstract: Objective: To investigate opportunities for task shifting to decongest an outpatient neurology clinic in Zambia by describing current patient flow through the clinic and potential nodes for intervention using process mapping. Background: Zambia has a population of approximately 18 million people with 4 full-time adult neurologists, as of 2018, who all practice at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), the main tertiary care center in the country. As a result of this provider-to-patient ratio, the outpatient neurology clinic is overcrowded and overbooked. Task-shifting programs have shown to improve efficiency, access and quality of care through the use of less specialized healthcare workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Methods: We evaluated patient flow in the UTH neurology outpatient clinic through the development and analysis of a process map. The characteristics of the clinic population between 2014 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed from the clinic register. Between July and August 2018, we prospectively collected appointment lag times and time each patient spent waiting at various points in the clinic process. We conducted interviews with clinic staff and neurologists to generate a detailed process map of current pathways to care within the clinic. We then devised task- shifting strategies to help reduce patient wait times based on the overview of clinic process mapping and patient demographics. Results: From 2014 to 2018, there were 4701 outpatients seen in the neurology clinic. The most common neurologi- cal diagnoses were epilepsy (39.2%), headache (21.5%) and cerebrovascular disease (16.7%). During prospective data collection, patients waited an average of 57.8 (SD 73.4) days to be seen by a neurologist. The average wait time from arrival in the clinic to departure was 4.0 (SD 2.5) h. The process map and interviews with clinic staff revealed long waiting times due to a paucity of providers. Nurses and clerks represent an influential stakeholder group, but are not actively involved in any activity to reduce wait times. A large proportion of follow-up patients were stable and seen solely to obtain medication refills. Conclusions: Epilepsy, headache, and stroke make up the largest percentage of outpatient neurological illness in Zambia. Targeting stable patients in these diagnostic categories for a task-shifting intervention may lead to substan- tially decreased patient wait times. Potential interventions include shifting clinical follow-ups and medication refills to less specialized healthcare workers.

Abstract: The election of right-wing politicians in several Latin American countries in recent years seems to present a break from the left-wing governments previously in power across the subcontinent. However, Colombia is distinct from these trends in that it has consistently been dominated by centre-right or right-wing politics. The absence of political space for left-wing politics in Colombia has allowed different governments to portray protests and protestors as subversive and criminal. Despite the high risks of mobilization, protests have continued to take place, even in periods during which armed conflict has escalated. Since mid-2008, right-wing movements have embraced, supported and used protest as a tactic; undertaking, calling for, and giving political support to different protests across the country. This has had an unexpected consequence: the use of protests by right-wing politicians has “normalized” protests in the country in the eyes of the political right, government institutions, and some sectors within the security and defence forces that now see protests as valid and normal. This article argues that the normalization of protest movements in Colombia has taken place due in part to right-wing and populist politicians’ support of protests. To discuss this, a brief historical analysis of the protests in Colombia since 1948 is presented, with the period from 2002 onwards discussed in greater detail.

Resumen: El turismo está directamente relacionado con la pobreza en los Centros Históricos, debido a que, en función de su participación en las dinámicas globales de desarrollo, el turismo resulta promoviendo la generación de inequidad y segregación sociocultural. Por lo tanto, es imprescindible que el turismo como actividad en crecimiento contribuya a generar procesos de integración territorial y a facilitar dinámicas económicas que mejoren la calidad de vida de los habitantes locales, así como el fortalecimiento de su desarrollo humano. De esta necesidad deriva la importancia que los distintos actores sociales deben otorgarle a la planificación turística en una territorialidad como la del Centro Histórico de La Candelaria, en Bogotá, D.C., procurando aportar a la superación de las condiciones estructurales de segregación y exclusión que han afectado al Centro Histórico de la ciudad.

Resumen: Las relaciones entre el patrimonio y el turismo no siempre han sido caracterizadas por la existencia de equilibrio y armonía. En el presente artículo se plantean algunos elementos a tener en cuenta para emprender acciones políticas, jurídicas y sociales coherentes con procesos de desarrollo patrimonial y turístico en condiciones de sostenibilidad, cooperatividad, equidad, inclusión e integración social.

Resumen: En la coyuntura histórica de Bogotá a principios de 1998, el rasgo fundamental fue el de la sacralización del nuevo marco constitucional y jurídico que le otorgaba facultades a los dirigentes urbanos para interpretar las normas de acuerdo con una filosofía radical, la cual configuró un imperio y una ideología de la ley en torno a la cuestión del espacio público en la ciudad, orientada a privilegiar unos intereses particulares y unas tendencias ideológicas específicas afines a las condiciones hegemónicas existentes en la actual modernidad global. Esto alteró de forma sustancial las dinámicas socioculturales que se habían venido produciendo en la Plaza de San Victorino y el antiguo barrio de Santa Inés durante, al menos, la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Esta situación dio lugar a la reconfiguración de los fenómenos de informalidad y marginalidad presentes en el sector que no desaparecieron sino que, por el contrario, cobraron otras formas y readaptaron sus prácticas a las nuevas condiciones del espacio urbano en este sector de Bogotá.

The genus Sarcocystis and the species Toxoplasma gondii are the most prevalent sarcocystid organisms found in birds. Molecular phylogenies based on the first internal transcribed spacer of the ribosomal coding DNA (ITS1) have been widely used to identify them. Here, pectoral muscles from 400 wild birds from Brazil were screened by means of molecular methods using nested PCR, and Sanger sequencing yielded amplicons. A pan-sarcocystid ITS1-directed nested PCR revealed 28 birds infected by Sarcocystis falcatula (ten Piciformes, eight Psittaciformes, five Columbiformes, two Accipitriformes, one Anseriformes, one Passeriformes and one Strigiformes); one infected by Sarcocystis halieti (one Accipitriformes); nine infected by unknown or undescribed Sarcocystis (six Passeriformes, one Piciformes, one Cathartiformes and one Cuculiformes); and six harboring Toxoplasma gondii DNA (three Pelecaniformes, two Falconiformes and one Columbiformes). Samples harboring S. falcatula-related ITS1 sequences were further characterized by means of PCR and sequencing of genetic sequences of three surface antigen coding genes (SAGs). From this, 10 new allelic combinations of SAGs (SAG2, SAG3 and SAG4) were identified, in addition to 11 SAG allelic combinations already found in Brazil. Samples with S. falcatula-unrelated ITS1 sequences were further characterized by means of PCR and sequencing of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I coding sequences (CO1) and 18S ribosomal DNA gene (18S rDNA). This study was the first extensive survey of wild birds in Brazil for Sarcocystidae species. It provides the first molecular evidence of natural S. falcatula infection in 14 species, including in the order Piciformes, and shows the high genetic diversity of S. falcatula in intermediate hosts in South America. Evidence of occurrence of at least three non-described species of Sarcocystis was also presented in this study. This survey corroborated the ubiquity of T. gondii infection but revealed surprisingly low prevalence of this parasite (1.5%).

Resumen: El artículo científico trata de los problemas que tiene la interpretación de los derechos y la creación de los mismos en el escenario de los jueces. Presenta una nueva teoría para superar el asunto. Dada su importancia, fue publicado en la Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Jurisprudencia. La Academia es la asociación de juristas más importantes de Colombia, fundada en 1894 y sirve de Consultora del Estado colombiano, el gobierno y las altas cortes.

Abstract: Sedimentary patterns and hydrodynamic transport processes on modern carbonate platforms in arid climates are understudied compared to platforms in humid-tropical climates. The Al Wajh platform–located in the Arabian–African desert belt–is a large land-attached carbonate platform in the Red Sea providing an excellent opportunity to fill this gap. The platform covers some 1800 km2 and is almost completely enclosed by a 115 km long reef-shoal belt. More than 200 sediment surface samples were analyzed in order to investigate the lateral sediment distribution within the lagoon. The seafloor map was refined integrating sample depths with previous published bathymetric information. Conductivity and temperature profiles were measured to study the lagoonal water body. The lagoon is dominated by poorly sorted, sandsized sediments with low total organic carbon content, while carbonate fines content shows significant lateral variation. Aragonite dominates sediment mineralogy with high-Mg calcite and low-Mg calcite being significant admixtures. Fine-grained siliciclastics are found across the entire lagoon, with angular quartz locally enriched in nearshore and distal areas. Seven component assemblages are defined ranging from benthic foraminifera and molluscrich to reef debris-rich component assemblages. Platform-interior ooids are for the first time documented from the modern Red Sea. The heterogeneous distribution of carbonate fines shows no water depth related trends, while the component assemblage arrangement is depth related. Hydrodynamics are interpreted to be the main mechanism controlling carbonate fines distribution in the lagoon. A nearshore enrichment of angular sand-sized quartz suggests influx through wadis during flash floods, while an almost even distribution of fine-grained siliciclastics possibly indicate aeolian import. These findings provide new insights to the importance of hydrodynamic transport processes for sediment distribution in a land-attached platform lagoon in an arid climate. Finally, this study presents a comparison with other modern platforms and discusses implications for improving strategies of hydrocarbon field development in rift-basin carbonates.

Abstract: Conflicts have a strong impact on land tenure, use, distribution, accessibility, and governance; consequently, a sustainable strategy for peacebuilding requires the set-up of land-based institutional arrangements from the peace negotiation phase onwards. Based on the concept of territorial peace, these arrangements have a key role in the reconstruction of the collective, productive, and symbolic functions of the territory after conflicts, and in addressing conflict root causes related to land inequality. This paper contributes to the development of the concept of territorial peace by providing a framework for its operationalization, based on three categories of arrangements, and testing it, to qualitatively explore and compare two comprehensive peace agreements: Colombia and the Philippines. Land may take the role of peacemaker in addressing territorial peace’s collective dimensions, especially when it is at the core of a peace agreement; however, its implementation remains volatile if it lacks trust, security, and technical capacity. Resumen: Los conflictos tienen un fuerte impacto en la tenencia, el uso, la distribución, la accesibilidad y la gobernanza de la tierra; en consecuencia, una estrategia sostenible para la consolidación de la paz requiere la creación de acuerdos institucionales basados en la tierra desde la fase de negociación de la paz. Basados en el concepto de paz territorial, estos acuerdos tienen un papel clave en la reconstrucción de las funciones colectivas, productivas y simbólicas del territorio después de los conflictos, y en el tratamiento de las causas profundas del conflicto relacionadas con la desigualdad de la tierra. Este trabajo contribuye al desarrollo del concepto de paz territorial proporcionando un marco para su operacionalización, basado en tres categorías de arreglos, y poniéndolo a prueba, para explorar y comparar cualitativamente dos acuerdos de paz integrales: Colombia y Filipinas. La tierra puede desempeñar el papel de pacificador al abordar las dimensiones colectivas de la paz territorial, especialmente cuando está en el centro de un acuerdo de paz; sin embargo, su aplicación sigue siendo volátil si carece de confianza, seguridad y capacidad técnica.

Resumen: Las compañías con propósito especial de compra (SPAC, por su sigla en inglés) constituyen un mecanismo de financiación a través del cual se capta dinero del público por medio de una emisión primaria de acciones en el mercado público de valores, con el objetivo de entrar en un proceso de fusión o adquisición con una empresa cerrada en un periodo determinado. Este artículo explora la definición, la historia, las características, el funcionamiento y los beneficios de esta figura a partir del desarrollo de esta institución en el derecho anglosajón, al tiempo que analiza la posibilidad y la forma en la que esta compañía podría llegar a ser utilizada en el derecho colombiano. Abstract: The special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) are a type of shell com- panies used for raising capital through an initial public offering (IPO) and aimed to merge with closely held company using the proceeds resulting from the IPO. This article explores the definition, history, characteristics, operation and benefits of this figure from its development in the common law and analyzes if it is possible to use this type of company in Colombia and the way to do it.