Fee-for-service (FFS) payment system has been criticized for affecting quality of care, contributing to the fragmentation of health care, and for rising costs of health care systems. Alternative payment plans (APP) have been introduced as options to the traditional FFS. Despite a link between payment methods and behaviour of physicians has been established, there is a lack of evidence about the impact of payment systems on well-being (motivation and daily distress) of physicians. This dissertation explored the impact of APP on physicians’ perceptions of professional equity and daily distress. The following questions guided this dissertation: 1) Does professional equity perceived by physicians vary among practitioners paid by FFS, APP, or blended alternatives? 2) Is the payment method associated with daily distress of medical practitioners? and 3) Are levels of professional equity, daily distress, and career satisfaction of physicians different by gender and payment methods? In 2011, Physicians practicing in the Saskatoon Health Region, the largest health authority of Saskatchewan, Canada, completed a questionnaire evaluating their perceptions of professional equity and daily distress. In total, 382 (48.1%) physicians participated in the study. Response bias was tested and found to be negligible. The study identified that physicians paid by APP perceived higher professional equity (fair economic rewards and appropriate recognition) in comparison to those paid by FFS. Particularly, family practitioners (FPs) paid by APP perceived higher professional equity than those FPs paid by FFS. The payment method was identified as a factor associated with distress; lower levels of daily distress were predicted among physicians paid by APP who see high proportions of patients with complex conditions. Notwithstanding, female physicians had poorer well-being indicators and the impact of APP on professional equity was only distinguished among males. A potential unequal impact of APP must be recognized between female and male physicians.

‘Voces desde el cocal’ es un texto que mezclando narración y análisis busca amplificar las voces de las mujeres cultivadoras para visibilizar sus condiciones de vida, sus trayectorias personales y su liderazgo. Este texto que Dejusticia lanza en colaboración con Fensuagro, sobre la experiencia de las mujeres cultivadoras de coca en la región Andinoamazónica, busca explorar los retos que les impone la vida rural, las estructuras de género, el conflicto armado y la criminalización, a estas mujeres.

Digital.Bogotá :Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia,2009.Recurso en línea (1 archivo de imagen : PDF, 574.7 KB)

Digital.Bogotá :Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia,2009.Recurso en línea (1 archivo de imagen : PDF, 176.1 KB)

La revista “La Mujer” es considerada la primera publicación financiada y dirigida por una mujer en Colombia; su función principal era servir como órgano de divulgación de textos escritos por intelectuales colombianas y sudamericanas, con el fin de acrecentar la participación femenina en la marcha hacia el progreso de la nación y la “civilización”, claro está, sin alejarse del ideario tradicional femenino imperante durante el siglo XIX. La mentora del proyecto editorial fue la escritora colombiana Soledad Acosta de Samper, quien se destacó por realizar una importante contribución en la visibilización femenina dentro del universo intelectual y académico del siglo XIX en América Latina, entre sus obras se pueden encontrar novelas, cuentos, obras de teatro, estudios sociales y literarios, tratados de historia y trabajos periodísticos como las revistas: “La Familia Lecturas Para el Hogar” (1884-1888) y “El Domingo de la Familia Cristiana” (1889-1890). Los artículos contenidos en “La Mujer” buscaban resaltar el rol de femenino tanto en la esfera pública, como en la vida familiar, por esta razón se discutían temas como la situación educativa y laboral, la moral, la higiene, las costumbres y al mismo tiempo se divulgaban novelas, poemas y estudios históricos. Uno de los aportes más significativos de la revista fue la reflexión sobre la posición de la mujer en la historia, consignada en la sección “Historia de la mujer en la civilización”, espacio en donde se pretendía hacer una relectura del pasado que incluyera relatos sobre la mujer dentro de la memoria colectiva del mundo. Esta publicación circuló desde septiembre de 1878 hasta mayo de 1881, contó con sesenta números reunidos en cinco tomos.

Digital.Bogotá :Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia,2009.Recurso en línea (1 archivo de imagen : PDF, 301 KB)

Quantum simulation describes a great variety of process observed in laboratories and daily life, however, as soon as the computer programs involve more particles, time and storage turn out to be critical issues that constraint the execution of larger simulations. Tensor Contraction Schemes for 2D Problems in Quantum Simulation is based on the ideas of Huckle and Waldherr and is a courageous attempt to describe many-body systems accurately without the intrinsic dimensional problems. To achieve this goal, two well-established techniques are applied to represent large vectors implicitly and, through a variational-based numerical method, minimise the related optimisation problem. Remarkably, the contraction schemes demand linear storage and time resources only. As result, the proposed scheme was able to produce solutions up to the first significant digit for 12-particle system, taking no more than few iteration.Finally, there are still open issues regarding the accuracy in the vector representation and the local optimality of the iterative method that must to be addressed in future investigations.

In this paper, I examine the case of Angosturas, a large-scale gold mining project by the Canadian-based company GreyStar in the sensitive high wetland páramo of Santurbán in the northeast of the Colombian Andes. Angosturas is the closest large-scale gold mining project to the phase of extraction in the country, and constitutes a referent for other ongoing cases. In 2011, the Ministry of the Environment, Housing, and Territorial Development (hereafter: Ministry of the Environment) denied the environmental license to the company to start extraction operations. Despite this government’s recent ruling, GreyStar (which renamed itself ‘Eco Oro’ after the 2011 decision) and other mining companies have continued their quest to gain permission to begin extraction in the area. I explore why these continued attempts to change government policy regarding extraction licensing is possible within the existing juridical framework. In particular, I ask how Sustainable Development allows for the classification of large-scale mining as a public utility activity. This paper is a criticism of Sustainable Development and the limitations it places on hearing certain kinds of languages and discourses that resist the commodification of nature. The case study allows me to address a gap in the existing literature, and outline the distinctive situation of non-legally recognized ethnic minorities (e.g. peasant farmers, small-scale miners, and the urban population).

Biological parameters and spatial variation of H. arguinensis were estimated inside the Ria Formosa, Portugal. Data collected during visual census (November 2012 to March 2014) and random samplings (February to March 2014) were analyzed. The average sizes were estimated in six localities with a total range between 4 and 48 cm. Three sites showed significant diferences in the average size: Armona, showing the highest mean and Barinha and PFE with the smallest mean (27.4, 17.5 and 21.7 cm respectively, p < 2.2e-16)  Asymptotic population length L?=70 cm and growth coeficient k=0.87 were estimated. The growth pattern showed seasonality using Hoenig’s function. The coverage of mud and sea grass (Z. Noltii, and C. nodosa) were the variables explaining better the diferences in abundance of H. arguinensis among sampled sites, demonstrating the importance of these sea grass species in the persistence of the species in the Ria Formosa.

This professional dissertation aims at understanding and questioning the present supremacy of the densification paradigm in urban planning. After presenting the theoretical bases of urban spatial structures, the paper studies the urban growth dynamics in Colombian cities. It focuses on a special category of cities where the densification paradigm proves to be especially inefficient: intermediary rapidly growing cities in developing countries. On the light of these findings, the paper analyses an alternative experience of urban development in Colombia by presenting the Urban Expansion Initiative conducted in Valledupar. Finally, the paper discusses the relationship between densification, urban poverty and urban sustainability.