This paper studies the hedging activities of 104 non-financial UK MNEs from 2005 to 2009 to examine their potential effect on the cost of equity. We use the Fama and French Three Factor Model to estimate the cost of equity and we collect detailed information on hedging and risk management activities directly from the annual reports. Although we evidence a negative relation between the cost of equity and hedging activities, we find that the cost of equity is not significantly affected by whether firms are hedgers or non-hedgers. We further use different subsamples and we are able to observe that: (i) size and leverage are important factors in the analysis of hedging and cost of equity, and (ii) the financial crisis plays an active role in the way firms understand and react towards unexpected volatility and risk. Finally we find that controlling for endogeneity of the hedging decision and for potential sample selection bias our results are more robust and are supporting evidence for the negative and significant relationship between hedging and cost of equity.

During the last decade, mining activity in Colombia is becoming a strong sector due to the political and economic incentives government gave to support foreign investment. This promotion and economic development should go hand by hand with environmental and social protection as it has an important contribution to the total GDP of the country. There are a high number of mining projects currently under development but despite the existence of laws, policies and regulations, there is a continuous environmental negative impact on the environment and several social problems are emerging. As a result of the current natural resource degradation, represented in a high rate of decline in vegetation cover, the increase of plant and animal species threatened, contamination of surface and ground water sources, poor air quality in major cities, land use conflicts and conditions of inadequate quality of life for the population, becomes urgent to develop responsible mining. With the aim of achieving this purpose, is necessary to evaluate the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, which is the main tool to evaluate and assess the impacts generated during a project, work or activity and make decisions as Decree 2820 of 2010 states on the other hand the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach is not ruled by any law but is the voluntary role of business towards society to respond to their needs and expectations. The purpose of the study is to determine the actual and potential role of EIA and CSR, both separately and if used together as decision-making and management tools. To attain the objectives of the research, a discourse analysis between different actors is used as a research strategy in order to find the answers to the research questions by collecting data through relevant documents and interviews with experts in mining, CSR and EIA process from Ministries, academy and mining companies. In this way, different perceptions on EIA and CSR are obtained, in order to determine how one improves the other or not to achieve environmental and social objectives. The findings reveal that, according to the perceptions of some environmental experts, the EIA process in Colombia is still a weak tool; it coincides with the study developed by the General Comptroller of the Republic in 2005-2006 which states that the whole licensing process (which includes the EIA) is inefficient in many aspects. It is not being used in the appropriate way, consequently does not meet the purpose of adequately protecting the environment; the analysis revealed that the main reasons for these problems are the lack of state-regulated methodologies and the moderate control to the process. Additionally, there is not a shared agenda between the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Mines, which leads to take wrong decisions that are detrimental to either environmental protection or mining development. Regarding the Corporate Social Responsibility approach in Colombia, mining companies always work with their stakeholders developing different strategies; in most of the cases they use this approach to gain approval of communities and the social license to operate. Organizations use different instruments in order to respond to both employees and members of their geographical communities of influence. In most of the cases, their requirements centers on two main areas: basic education for them and their families and microbusiness initiatives. Even though there is no mining activity without impact, for sure there is responsible mining with less impact. The important issue is to make sure that the technical, social, economical and environmental aspects will be considered to develop a project. Moreover the guidelines proposed by the Ministry of Environment, the existent legal framework and the tools the country has, should be respected and used appropriately with the support of all the stakeholders involved in order to combine the so called “engine of the economy” with the protection of the environment and Colombian society.

In this study, the Colombian electricity market, its regulation and its current tariff scheme was examined. Here, the operation of the electricity system and its value chain are described in detail. Future scenarios of supply and demand are also shown. The study presents a description of the legal incentives given by the government for the promotion of renewable energies, and strategic aspects and recommendations for the development of solar photovoltaic (PV) industry in Colombia were identified and formulated. In particular, strategies for collaboration between Colombia and Germany, which is a leader in the PV industry. The report presents an overview of solar PV systems markets worldwide and in Colombia. Regarding the solar market in Colombia, not only the historical development of the PV industry in the country is explained, but also the solar radiation in the whole country is shown. In the same way, this study shows a description of the most common alternatives for the electrification in off-grid areas and an enumeration of drivers and barriers for the development of the PV industry in the country.

This work examines the conditions that determine variations in urban transport sustainability outcomes in metropolitan areas of Latin America. Current theory suggests that building urban sustainability cannot just be a local technical dynamic; rather, it must be constructed and contested at various governance levels and through multiple political spaces. Similarly, theory posits that present urban policies are predetermined by previous decisions, which implies high reversal costs for making major changes to the system. Deviating from previous studies that have focused on analyzing urban sustainability technically, and at the local level, this study develops an empirical characterization of transport sustainability for Latin American metropolitan areas, and maps the political determinants of urban sustainability.

The Afro-Colombian identity has been characterized for being notoriously strong in certain areas of the country but extremely weak in others. In the 1970s some Afro-Colombian activists made possible the “creation” of an identity discourse that is based on their ancestors’ historical struggles and contributions to the nation. Behind this “recent” discourse there is a strategy that seeks the elimination of racist practices and other human rights abuses against Afro-descendants. To what extent has this ethnic discourse been successful? Why have some Afro-Colombians resisted ethnic homogenization projects whereas many of them have followed the elites’ rules? What are the challenges of the Afro-Colombian identity-building process and mobilization? The author intends to answer these questions, while explaining the importance for Afro-Colombians of their heritage and ethnic self-awareness as a political tool. The paper represents one of the few works of its kind that studies the Afro-Colombian ethnic identity discourse and the political strategy behind its social goals.

This project was made as a final project of the Master in Industrial Organization and Markets. The main objective of the document is to finnd the empirical behavior of banks in input market (deposits) and output market (loans) and identify possible imperfections that may arise at each market. The first part of the document starts with a brief survey of different related research. Then, the second part shows the main model following, mainly the document by Adams, Robert M., LH. Röller, R. Sickles (2002), ""Market Power in Outputs and Inputs: An Empirical Application to Banking."". The rest of the document is devoted to the procedures and results to nally conclude.

Teniendo en cuenta que la disfunción miocárdica por sepsis es un proceso patológico asociado al estrés oxidativo y nitrosativo, nos propusimos determinar el efecto protector de Trx1 durante la progresión de la enfermedad. Para esto, a ratones con sobreexpresión de Trx1 específica en corazón (Tg-trx1) y sus wildtype (WT) se les realizó ligadura-doble punción cecal o laparotomía. Después de 6, 18 y 24 hs, se evaluó actividad de enzimas antioxidantes y de cadena respiratoria mitocondrial por espectrofotometría; procesos de dinámica y biogénesis mitocondrial por qRT-PCR. Morfología y autofagia por microscopía electrónica y contractilidad cardiaca por técnica de Langendorff.  Se observó que Trx1 incrementa la sobrevida en sepsis. En sepsis temprana atenúa la caída en reserva contráctil y en sepsis tardía mantiene un menor nivel oxidativo celular, retrasando el agotamiento de la capacidad antioxidante mitocondrial y la pérdida de la actividad de complejo I mitocondrial. También reduce el porcentaje de mitocondrias con alteraciones morfológicas, la alteración en la dinámica mitocondrial y activa significativamente la biogénesis mitocondrial y la autofagia. Se concluye que en disfunción miocárdica séptica Trx1 prolonga la protección redox, preservando la reserva contráctil, limitando el daño mitocondrial y activando mecanismos de recuperación mitocondrial, incrementando así la sobrevida en sepsis.

Résumé: Nombre d’enseignants de langues étrangères partent étudier dans le(s) pays où on parle la langue qu’ils enseignent, ce qui constitue une expérience bouleversante. Intégrer une culture différente et se socialiser par le biais d’une langue étrangère modifie à la fois notre façon d’appréhender la réalité et le regard que l’on a sur soi, comme sur autrui. Un séjour linguistique et culturel à l’étranger aurait donc des effets sur les constructions identitaires des (futur(e)s) enseignant(e)s. L’identité, considérée d’un point de vue dynamique, évolue et se construit dans l’interaction, un phénomène qui se produit dans le pays d’accueil et grâce au langage. Je présenterai une recherche qualitative dans le cadre de laquelle j’ai analysé les effets d’un séjour linguistique et culturel à l’étranger, m’intéressant de manière particulière aux aspects identitaires, mis en discours dans le récit de vie de 9 (futur(e)s) enseignant(e)s de FLE. Abstract: Many foreign language teachers go to study in the country where the language they teach is spoken, which is an overwhelming experience. Integrating a different culture and socializing through a foreign language modifies both the way we perceive reality and the way we perceive ourselves and the others. Being in contact with another language and another culture abroad would affect the identity constructions of future teachers. Identity, considered from a dynamic point of view, evolves and is built through interaction, a phenomenon that occurs in the host country and where language plays an important role. I will present a qualitative research that I conducted in order to analyze the effects of living abroad, concentrating mainly on the identity aspects in the narratives of 9 future Colombian French teachers.

El conflicto y la tradición letrada republicana que en Antioquia no concurrieron sino hasta finales del siglo XIX, permitieron que se diera un debate letrado en el marco del cual la novela sirvió como un arma simbólica propia de esta contradicción. El anverso de este argumento nos dice entonces que ni la sociedad letrada autoreferencial, ni los conflictos son condiciones que tienen per se la capacidad de dar origen a la novela. Como el primer conflicto que se dio dentro de la ciudad letrada republicana fue el de la construcción de la nación no sólo en Antioquia sino en toda Latinoamérica, la novela y nación quedaron asociados en sus orígenes en una relación simbiótica: la nación suponía el conflicto que la novelas reflejaban y las novelas le daban una dimensión a la nación cuando enunciaban las partes que entraban en contradicción. Pero en la Antioquia finisecular, existía además del conflicto propiamente nacional desatado tras el proyecto de la Regeneración que buscaba restarle poder a la región, un conflicto local en el cual los valores y sujetos sociales por cien años vigentes se ponían en cuestión. Y en esta doble contestación la novela inicial definió su carácter: regionalista hacia el exterior y contra hegemónica hacia el interior. Pero el acceso a este debate letrado, en el que Carrasquilla participó por medio de sus novelas y especialmente por medio de Frutos de mi tierra, exigía el seguimiento de unas reglas que iban más allá del hecho de saber leer y escribir. Además del simple alfabetismo exigía demostrar una alineación con el sistema de pensamiento europeo y con las reglas formales del buen decir que los criollos sistematizaron en manuales y códigos, o exigía, al menos, tal como lo hizo nuestro autor, el conocimiento y la capacidad para controvertirlos y poder dialogar con ellos. De todas maneras, y pese a que fue una minoría de antioqueños los que como Carrasquilla pudieron participar en este debate letrado, fueron ellos los que al canalizar sus conflictos en el debate letrado y no en la guerra permitieron hablar de una modernidad potenciada en el marco de la cual tuvo su origen la novela regional.

The need for sustainable agricultural production is generally accepted, and it is increasingly investigated. However, although much has been written about the socio?economic causes of problems with sustainability and the policies needed to overcome them, this has generally been from the viewpoint of the farmer and/or government (FAO, 1991). There has been no assessment of sustainability problems and needs from of the perspective of the marketing system. What is the optimal match between marketing system and sustainability in agriculture ? This study is a first attempt to consider the question of sustainability of agricultural systems from a marketing system perspective. A stable commercial relationship between farmer and enterprise may be an economic incentive for investments in the productive natural resource. Aim To elucidate the contribution of different marketing arrangements on the sustainability of production systems under different conditioning environments. The performance of certain marketing systems may be driven to obtain sustainable effects on the farmer's use of resources. Research A conceptual framework is proposed. Different methods are used to assess and validate the stated hypotheses. Firstly, a positive model approach relates sustainability to physical (e.g. land slope), personal (e.g. attitudes), economic (e.g. income), and institutional (e.g. marketing) factors. Secondly, a normative model approach includes sustainability, but also other goals such as profitability, risk avoidance, and income distribution. The simulation optimizes multiple objectives under different marketing scenarios. Preliminary findings confirm that farmers more integrated to the market are adopters of sustainable technology. Conversely, farmers facing market imperfections do not make an appropriate use of the land. Market imperfections such as transport and communications handicaps, high interests of commercial loans, or ambiguity of input and output prices, can result in sub-optiomal managements of the natural resource.