Abstract: The world has overlapped pressures in favour and against the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity and other purposes. Most scaremongers demand to leave all hydrocarbons below the ground and utilise renewable energy sources. This paper is aimed at providing an economic approach to demonstrate why natural gas may serve as a “bridge"" fuel in the transition to cleaner energy sources, but corresponding incentives must be in place; otherwise, the current panorama might not change in the foreseeable future. The “bridge” concept will be explained in detail as well as the reasons why renewable energy might be far away for some economies and from a cost-effective point of view when compared to natural gas. Consequently, the latter may remain the most efficient fuel for a while given all circumstances. Resumen: El mundo ha superpuesto presiones a favor y en contra del uso de combustibles fósiles para generar electricidad y otros fines. La mayoría de los alarmistas exigen dejar todos los hidrocarburos bajo tierra y utilizar fuentes de energía renovables. Este documento tiene como objetivo proporcionar un enfoque económico para demostrar por qué el gas natural puede servir como combustible ""puente"" en la transición hacia fuentes de energía más limpias, pero deben existir los incentivos correspondientes, de lo contrario, el panorama actual podría no cambiar en el futuro previsible El concepto de ""puente"" será explicado en detalle, así como las razones por las cuales la energía renovable podría estar muy lejos para algunas economías y desde un punto de vista de rentabilidad cuando se compara con el gas natural. En consecuencia, este último puede seguir siendo el combustible más eficiente por un tiempo dadas todas las circunstancias.

Abstract: Reflecting on methodology means thinking about decisions a researcher makes when approaching the subject of study, in terms of questions posed, concepts embraced and choice of methods. There are also epistemological and ontological assumptions underlying the selection of particular methodologies and concepts, though this is less often explicitly considered. Therefore within these considerations, the definition of the unit of analysis and the levels at which the study is conducted, need to be made explicit and to be justified, for quality in research. This chapter discusses these issues taking the example of Colombia, to show how some violent conflicts fall between the cracks of currently dominant methodologies of mathematical modeling and the use of existing econometric datasets, on the one hand, and the ways ethnicity is included in those models and datasets. Ethnic identities have mostly been the focus of studies by anthropologists, often focused on local level struggle sand claims, whereas a national level perspective is still most common in the econometric rational choice approach to conflict studies. The later however use ethnicity as one of its variables. My point is that research results also change when the research focus changes from national to local level. Resumen: Reflexionar sobre metodologías y métodos implica reflexionar sobre las decisiones un investigador tiene que tomar cuando se aproxima a un objeto de estudio, su relación con las preguntas que se busca responder, los conceptos que se usan para el análisis y la elección de métodos para esta tarea. Sin embargo no debemos dejar de lado la reflexión sobre aquellos supuestos ontológicos y epistemológicos que son implícitos en la elección de metodologías. Esto es algo que raramente es expuesto y discutido de manera explícita. Considerando esto, la definición de la unidad de análisis y su impacto sobre una investigación es realizada deben ser hechos explícitos y justificados para garantizar la calidad de la investigación. Este capítulo discute estos elementos tomando como caso de análisis el caso de Colombia, para presentar como el argumento de un conflicto étnico puede ganar o perder validez en función de las metodologías usadas y los datos analizados. La identidad y el análisis de grupos étnicos ha sido el foco de análisis de antropólogos, quienes analizan este caso desde una perspectiva local y regional, sin embargo cuando se presentan panoramas más generales (a nivel nacional) el análisis presentado es mucho más homogeneizador. La discrepancia alrededor de la respuesta a la existencia/ausencia de un conflicto étnico en Colombia presenta el ejemplo de como las respuestas a nuestras preguntas de investigación pueden alterarse al cambiar la unidad de análisis y el área de estudio de una investigación.

This article deals with the process of adopting international drug treaties in confor¬mity with the Colombian legal system. International law establishes that substances that are considered illicit, including coca leaf, have legal uses exclusively for medical or scientific purposes. Consequently, the chewing of coca leaf by indigenous com¬munities in the Andean States is mandated to disappear. The Colombian state has signed and ratified these international treaties, and has an obligation to respect its international commitments. Being a pluricultural nation with two formal and equal legal systems (indigenous and ordinary jurisdiction) and with the increased partici¬pation of native communities in Colombian politics, the task of implementing this obligation gives rise to a legal conundrum. The Colombian state faces two mutually exclusive obligations: One to its international commitments and another to respect the rights of indigenous communities.

This exploratory study about the experiences of 5 former high school exchange students in Colombia, analyses their relationships with others, the challenges they faced and their general reflections and insights about the overall experience, in light of theory about Intercultural Competence (IC). The data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews and was analysed using Thematic Content Analysis. Results were categorised in 5 relevant themes that emerged from participants’ responses: relevance of other people; problems faced with other people; talking as a relevant skill; attitudes gained during and after the exchange; and general cultural knowledge about Colombia. In conclusion, elements of IC were salient during participants’ recollections of interactions with others, which somehow were mediated by the others’ IC and different external, contextual and subjective factors.

In the Caribbean coast of Colombia, within a triangle-shaped mountainous massif covered by a dense jungle of endemic flora (known as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta), lies the archaeological park Teyuna-Lost City. A series of terraces, roads, stairs, spillways and sewerage systems form the largest and most impressive archaeological settlement in Colombia. Given the complexity of its geographical location, the place remained unnoticed, hidden and well protected for over 400 years. However, since its discovery, in 1975, the site has been subjected to different political, social and cultural dynamics that have affected its management and conservation. In the context of Colombian post-conflict, Teyuna has been perceived by many as an alternative to enhance their living condition. However, tensions promoted by stakeholders, communities and illegal armed groups are affecting the appropriate dissemination of its cultural values. After all, some communities conceive Teyuna as a business rather than as a National Heritage. In this project, I present an analysis of the bodies that are behind the tourism market, the limitations of the community-based tourism in the post-conflict scenario, the power imbalances on Teyuna´s management, and the dissemination problems of the archaeological site.

The intent of this research is to propose and analyse a set of policies in the construction industry to enhance social development. First, the paper shows the connections between the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and social entrepreneurship (SE), the reduction of the leakage, and then the generation of social value (SV) for sustainable regional development. For that, the article analyses briefly the literatures on SE and leakage, and focuses on the relevance of SME and social entrepreneurs as promoters of SV creation and development. Second, the paper proposes a framework and proposes a set of 20 policies aimed to reduce leakage, reinforce SMEs and entrepreneurship and also to promote SE behaviour by the diverse economic agents in the construction industry, in order to increase the generation of SV and sustainable development. Then, the paper analyses the acceptability, feasibility and viability of these proposed polices, which can be useful for academics and practitioners. For that, the study uses the Delphi methodology, applied to an expert- group of 23 professionals (representatives of the private and public sector) belonging to the Colombian construction industry. The results emphasize the relevance of the development of local incumbents and the social focus of firms to increase the generation of SV. Oppositely, policies interfering economic freedom and free trade receive the lowest rates in the three criteria considered.

This paper investigates strategies that have been used in companies from different countries to alleviate the impact of extortion from armed groups in businesses, especially in construction companies. Based on these experiences a risk management decision-making criterion will be outlined, resulting on broad recommendations to assist local small and medium size companies in the decision-making process when dealing with an incident of extortion. At the end, a list of potential recommendations is highlighted to assist companies in this process. The methodology for this thesis is based on desk-top research, literature review taken from companies’ websites, NGO’s websites, states reports, journal articles, statistics and relevant cases studies from companies dealing with extortion. The outcome of this investigation would be a decision-making criterion and a list of recommendations that companies could use to mitigate or avoid extortions in Colombia.

Los proyectos participativos que incluyen la práctica musical amateur son cada vez más utilizados en el mundo de la cultura. En este tipo de proyectos, los participantes amateurs hacen parte de una creación artística junto con músicos profesionales. En general los proyectos culminan con una presentación pública del trabajo realizado. Así pues, varios factores se movilizan: La función de audiencia, el status de la obra de arte y el rol del mediador cultural. A partir de un estudio de caso, este trabajo analiza el proceso, el resultado y las formas de participación posibles en el campo de la música. Igualmente, se cuestiona la práctica musical como una forma de acercarse al arte. Finalmente, se propone una reflexión sobre la existencia de la mediación y por lo tanto del mediador en este tipo de contextos.

Resumen: Las Social Networking Sites (SNS) o Redes sociales, en español, han intervenido en todos los ámbitos de la vida humana y el escenario laboral no ha sido ajeno a ello; es así como el objetivo de esta investigación es conocer de qué manera se aplican estas redes a los procesos de reclutamiento y selección del talento humano, a través de una revisión sistemática de la literatura en las bases de datos ISI Web of Science y Scopus, desde el año 2001 hasta 2016, que incluye las etapas de planeación, ejecución y diseminación de los resultados. El estudio del tema ha despertado a lo largo del tiempo un interés en el mundo científico, lo que permitió identificar los usos que las empresas le están dando a estas plataformas en el mercado laboral. Los principales resultados muestran que el contenido publicado por los candidatos repercute en las decisiones de los reclutadores, así como la discriminación que estas acarrean ha desencadenado un debate ético y legal, donde países como Estados Unidos han desarrollado iniciativas legales para regularlas. Con esto se logró crear bases para futuras investigaciones en torno a un tema que está incidiendo significativamente en la dinámica empresarial actual Abstract: The Social Networking Sites (SNS) or Redes Sociales, in Spanish, have taken essential part within every human life sphere and workspace has not been indifferent to this. The objective of this research is to know how the Social Networking Sites are being applied to recruitment and selection processes through a systematic literature review in ISI Web of Science and Scopus databases, from 2001 to 2016 that includes planning, implementation and dissemination of results. It has been found that the study of this topic has awakened over an especial interest in the scientific world throughout the time, which allowed to identify the uses that nowadays are being given to this platform in the labor market. The main results show that the content published by the candidates affects the decisions of the recruiters, promoting discrimination that has triggered into an ethical and legal debate, where countries such as the United States have developed legal initiatives to regulate these practices. In this way the present article has created bases for future research on a subject that is meaningfully influencing in the business dynamic.

Abstract: Trypanosomes are unicellular early divergent eukaryotic microorganisms that cause sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. Genome sequencing has revealed that these parasites lack most of the highly conserved proteins involved in chromosome segregation. However, kinetochore-associated chromosome segregation has been proposed to occur in Trypanosoma brucei and the existence of centromeres, the locus that interacts with the kinetochores, has been inferred in T. brucei and Trypansoma cruzi. This work aimed to characterise, at a structural and functional level, the centromeres of Trypanosoma sp. Centromeres in T. brucei have been localised to chromosomal loci that contain an array of ~147 bp AT-rich tandem repeats. Using a long-range restriction endonuclease mapping approach, we found that the sizes of the arrays in T. brucei chromosomes 1-8 vary from 20 to 110 kb and present length heterogeneity between chromosome homologues. Topoisomerase II-? (TOP2?) plays a major role in sister chromatid segregation. TOP2? specific centromeric activity has been demonstrated in trypanosomes. In this project, we systematically evaluated through different approaches, regulatory mechanisms for the TOP2? activity/recruitment to trypanosome centromeres. In other eukaryotes, the Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifier (SUMO) interaction with TOP2? is required for it to be recruited to centromeres during mitosis. In independent experiments, we found no evidence for this association in bloodstream form (BSF) T. brucei . Modifications to the carboxyl terminal region (CTR) of TOP2?, other than SUMOylation, have been described that affect cell cycle specific localisation on chromosomes. Here, we undertook experiments to further delineate regions of the CTR of trypanosome TOP2?. Using a sequential deletion approach, we found that amino acids 1223-1312 in the CTR of enzyme are not required for its centromeric-specific activity. Finally, we found that the condensin unit SMC2 is essential for growth of T. brucei BSFs and not for TOP2? specific centromeric activity.