Lac Region Research Articles

Exploring Network Analysis for Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction in Informal Settlements

The work explores the use of street network analysis on informal settlements and discusses the potential and limitations of this methodology to advance disaster risk reduction and urban resilience. The urban network analysis tool is used to conduct graph analysis measures on street networks in three informal settlements in the LAC region: Portmore, Jamaica; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Lima, Peru. Authors incorporate risk variables identified by these communities and combine them with prospective scenarios in which street networks are strategically intervened to improve performance. Authors also compute one graph index named Reach centrality. Results are presented spatially through thematic maps, and statistically by plotting cumulative distributions. Findings show that centrality measures of settlements' networks helped identify key nodes or roads that may be critical for people's daily life after disasters, and strategic to improve accessibility. The proposed methodology shows potential to inform decisions on urban planning and disaster risk reduction.

China’s Impact on Latin America and the Caribbean Trade Performance

In this paper we analyzed the current involvement of China in Latin American and the Caribbean countries during the last 15 years while using the data from 22 countries in the region plus China. Following are the areas that we found significantly related with the trade between the regions. Firstly, the complexity of the imported and exported goods; Secondly, How Intra-regional agreements affected trade with China and, the US immersion in the LAC Region. The analysis of the Impact of trade are involving factors that have more to do with spatiality and geography. We not only surveyed the recent literature, but also made our own analysis in order to examine under which conditions China can influence LAC Trade. Finally an effect of the LAC exports and Imports to USA on LAC trade was set in order to have a better understanding of the actual situation in the region.

Financial markets of the LAC region: Does the crisis influence the financial integration?

This paper aims to analyse financial integration in the emerging markets of Latin America in the context of the dot-com and subprime financial crises. To do so, different approaches were adopted to answer two questions, namely: (i) the financial markets of Latin America show significant levels of integration in periods of financial crisis? and (ii) if there are persistent long memories in the data series, will portfolio risk diversification be called into question? The results obtained suggest that the markets are partially integrated in crisis and non-crisis periods. In addition, financial series do not present significant persistent long memories arising from the subprime crisis. The 2008 crisis was found to have a greater impact on the cross correlation coefficients of the Latin American stock markets than the dot-com crisis. In terms of conclusion, it is considered that the financial markets of Latin America were affected by the dot-com and subprime crises. However, there was a re-balance in these regional markets which could create conditions for possible diversification strategies.

Financing and budgeting practices for health in Peru

Peru has made substantial progress towards achieving UHC. Increases in access to healthcare and financial protection had a positive impact in health outcomes. Despite this progress, major efforts are needed to reduce fragmentation and increase efficiency in the health system as a whole. Creating formal coordination mechanisms and improving capacity at the subnational level are key elements to ensure that any additional resource spent has a great positive impact in Peru’s health care system. The well-developed and highly institutionalised PPR methodology in Peru can inspire other countries in the LAC region. However, other budgetary practices could be better aligned with OECD recommendations of good budgetary governance. In particular, making the approved budget closer to what is expected to be executed would greatly increase the usefulness of the budget, showing how resources are prioritised and how annual policy objectives are to be achieved. JEL codes: H5, H60, I11, I18 Keywords: Universal health coverage UHC, Peru, health expenditures, budget formulation, budget execution, budget monitoring, fiscal sustainability of health systems

Radiography of internet autonomous systems interconnection in Latin America and the Caribbean

Lots of studies about the Internet Autonomous System (AS) level topology have been carried out during the last twenty years, most of them analyzing this topology on a world-wide scale, a lot of them based on routing information from the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). However, studies focusing on a specific region and making comparisons between regions are not that popular and in fact, most world-wide studies are not valid in some particular regions. This work is targeting this particular problem of the regional or country topology analysis by enhancing regular AS-level graphs where to apply different connectivity metrics. The focus is set on Latin America and the Caribbean (the LAC region) which exhibits appropriate conditions for this type of analysis and where we show that a basic metric comparison may not be good enough so as to realize that there is a connectivity problem in the region. After concluding that the situation in the LAC region in terms of interconnection is even worse than expected, we perform some country-level studies finding correlations between graph characteristics and some socioeconomic indicators. We then use these correlations to identify countries in which it would be worth pushing for the deployment of an Internet Exchange Point (IXP), as simulating the creation of an IXP there has a great impact on the interconnection level and on the robustness of the regional Internet.

A Historical and Comparative Survey of the Chinese Presence in the Latin American and Caribbean Region, with a Focus on the Anglophone Caribbean

Abstract In this paper, I first broadly map the historical patterns of Chinese presence in the Latin America and Caribbean (lac) region, as a way of distinguishing the primary locations and forms of incorporation and settlement. This historical context provides a baseline from which to examine patterns of the new post-1980s instantiations of Chinese presence in the wider lac region and Central America and Caribbean (cac) sub-region, with particular reference to the English-speaking Caribbean, and, even more specifically, the Eastern Caribbean group of islands with no historical antecedent of an older Chinese diaspora. To highlight this specificity, I include findings from preliminary research conducted in several of these islands, and examine some of the key emerging configurations and complications of the new dual presence in the Anglophone Caribbean of the Chinese state and private entrepreneurial immigrant.

Acquisition of the lac operon by Salmonella enterica.

BackgroundClassical bacteriological characteristics of Salmonella enterica indicate that the members of this species are unable to utilize lactose as a carbon source. However, lactose-fermenting (Lac+) strains of several Salmonella serovars have been isolated from different foodborne outbreaks as well as different geographical regions worldwide. In the present study, we sequenced the genomes of 13 Lac + S. enterica isolates and characterized the lac region, comparing it to the lac region in other enteric bacterial species.ResultsGenetic analysis of the lac operons in the S. enterica genomes revealed that they all contain intact lacI, lacZ, and lacY genes. However, lacA was truncated in all of the S. enterica subsp. enterica isolates, encoding a 56 amino acid peptide rather than the full length 220 amino acid LacA protein. Molecular analyses of the 13 isolates revealed that the lac operon resided on a plasmid in some strains and in others was integrated into the bacterial chromosome. In most cases, an insertion sequence flanked at least one end of the operon. Interestingly, the S. enterica Montevideo and S. enterica Senftenberg isolates were found to harbor a plasmid with a high degree of sequence similarity to a plasmid from Klebsiella pneumoniae strain NK29 that also harbors the lac operon. In addition, two S. enterica Tennessee isolates carried two copies of the lac operon. Phylogenetic analysis based on lacIZY gene sequences determines distinct clusters, and reveals a greater correlation between lacIZY sequence and flanking organization than with either bacterial species or genomic location.ConclusionsOur results indicate that the lac region is highly mobile among Enterobacteriaceae and demonstrate that the Lac + S. enterica subsp. enterica serovars acquired the lac region through parallel events. The acquisition of the lac operon by several S. enterica serovars may be indicative of environmental adaptation by these bacteria.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12866-015-0511-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Can tax simplification help lower tax corruption?

This paper seeks to find empirical evidence of a link between tax simplification and corruption in tax administration. It attempts to do this by first defining “tax simplicity” as a measurable variable, and exploring empirical relationships between simpler tax regimes and corruption in tax administrations. Corruption in tax administration is calculated by using data series from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey Database. The focus is on business taxes. 104 countries from different income groups and regions of the world are included in this study. The time period is 2002–2012. The empirical findings support the existence of a significant link between the measure of tax corruption and tax simplicity, so, a less complex tax system is shown to be associated with lower corruption in tax administration. It is predicted that the combined effect of a 10 % reduction in both the number of payments and the time to comply with tax requirements can lower tax corruption by 9.64 %. Some interesting regional differences are observed in the results. While the impact on tax simplification on tax corruption is expected to be the highest in the LAC and SSA regions, the weakest economic significance is observed in the SASIA and EAP regions. Similarly, the income level of countries plays an important role in determining the impact of tax simplification on tax corruption; specifically, the link is stronger for lower income level countries. The positive link between tax simplicity and lower tax corruption has useful policy implications.

The Legal Mandates of the cabei and of the caf as Agents of Economic Growth in Latin America

Sub-regional multilateral organizations are playing a rapidly increasing role in the suppliance of development finance to the countries of the Latin American (lac) region. However, though surprising, the wide and fast-growing role of sub-regional multilateral institutions in the international financial system has as yet received very little attention from an international legal perspective. The overall goal of this article is to fill this gap, and therefore to critically review the experience of lac countries with international sub-regional development and financial cooperation. In doing so, the article will stress in particular that the two most successful sub-regional financial institutions, namely the Andean Development Corporation (caf) and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (cabei) have shown the capacity to supply services to member countries in a timely way, with counter-cyclical effects and on a wider scale relative to other types of multilateral financing.

Cost-effectiveness and cost utility analysis of three pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in children of Peru

BackgroundThe clinical and economic burden associated with invasive and non-invasive pneumococcal and non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) diseases is substantial in the Latin America and Caribbean region, where pneumococcal vaccines have only been introduced to a few countries. This study analyzed the cost-effectiveness and cost utility of three different pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) for Peru.MethodsA Markov model that simulated the disease processes in a birth cohort over a lifetime, within 1,128 month cycles was used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of 10-valent pneumococcal NTHi protein D conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV) and 7- and 13-valent PCVs (PCV-7 and PCV-13). Expected quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), cost-savings and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated.ResultsWithout vaccination, pneumonia was associated with the greatest health economic burden (90% of QALYs lost and 63% of lifetime direct medical costs); while acute otitis media (AOM) was responsible for 1% of QALYs lost and 25% of direct medical costs. All vaccines were predicted to be cost-effective for Peru, with PHiD-CV being most cost-effective. PHiD-CV was predicted to generate 50 more QALYs gained and required a reduced investment (−US$ 3.4 million) versus PCV-13 (discounted data), and was therefore dominant and cost saving. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that PHiD-CV generated more QALYs gained at a reduced cost than PCV-13 in 84% of the simulations and less QALYs gains at a reduced cost in 16%. Additional scenarios using different assumptions on vaccine efficacies based on previous evidence were explored, but no significant change in the overall cost-effective results were observed.ConclusionsThe results of this modeling study predict that PCVs are likely to be a cost-effective strategy to help relieve the epidemiological and economic burden associated with pediatric pneumococcal and NTHi diseases for Peru. PHiD-CV is likely to be a dominant (better health gains at a reduced net cost) intervention compared to PCV-13 or PCV-7. The most significant drivers for these results are the better health and economic profile of PHiD-CV against AOM and its reduced cost per dose available through the PAHO Revolving Fund in the LAC region.

Towards the construction of health workforce metrics for Latin America and the Caribbean

IntroductionOne of the components of the Health Observatory for Latin American and the Caribbean (HO-LAC) is the design and implementation of metrics for human resources for health. Under the HO-LAC initiative, researchers from nine countries in the region formed the Collaborative Community on Human Resources for Health in Latin America and the Caribbean to identify common metrics applicable to the field of human resources for health (HRH).Case descriptionThe case description comprises three stages: a) the origins of an initiative in which a non-governmental organization brings together researchers involved in HRH policy in LAC, b) a literature search to identify initiatives to develop methods and metrics to assess the HRH field in the region, and c) subsequent discussions held by the group of researchers regarding the possibilities of identifying an appropriate set of metrics and indicators to assess HRH throughout the region.Discussion and evaluationA total of 101 documents produced between 1985 and 2008 in the LAC region were identified. Thirty-three of the papers included a variety of measurements comprising counts, percentages, proportions, indicators, averages and metrics, but only 13 were able to fully describe the methods used to identify these metrics and indicators. Of the 33 articles with measurements, 47% addressed labor market issues, 25% were about working conditions, 23% were on HRH training and 5% addressed regulations. Based on these results, through iterative discussions, metrics were defined into three broad categories (training, labor market and working conditions) and available sources of information for their estimation were proposed. While only three of the countries have data on working conditions, all countries have sufficient data to measure at least one aspect of HRH training and the HRH labor market.ConclusionsInformation gleaned from HRH metrics makes it possible to carry out comparisons on a determined experience in space and time, in a given country and/or region. The results should then constitute evidence for policy formulation and HRH planning and programs, with improved health system performance ultimately contributing to improved population health. The results of this study are expected to guide decision making by incentivizing the construction of metrics that provide information about HRH problems in LAC countries.

Climate Change Funds and Implications for LAC Countries and the IDB

This paper surveys climate change funds related to LAC countries and attempts to derive some implications through performance analyses of these funds. The performance analyses show that the following matters should be addressed: increases in participation of the IDB as an agent in the projects for the LAC region, enlargement of the scale of co-financing in the IDB-brokered cases as well as in the LAC region, and reinforcement of the linkage between the SECCI Funds and international climate change funds. Further research as to why the level of co-financing in LAC countries is lower than in other regions would also be of interest.

Marine Turtles, Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare in the Marine Ecosystems of the Caribbean Sea: A Discussion of Key Methodologies

It is increasingly recognized that maintaining biodiversity is of fundamental importance toward sustaining human livelihoods. One of the major assets of the region identified as “Latin America and the Caribbean” (LAC) is its biological wealth; by extension, the continued biodiversity loss of the LAC region is seen as one of the world’s principal environmental problems. The marine resources of Caribbean Sea are of vital economic, ecological and social importance to the LAC region, and are under particular threat. Marine turtles play vital roles throughout the Caribbean Sea both in terms of ecological functions and human welfare. Conservation efforts in this direction can often depend on the ability to place a value on welfare changes associated with the loss of ecosystem goods and services into which biodiversity plays an integral role.Using the ecosystem service categories of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, this paper discusses from an inter-disciplinary perspective the methodologies associated with linking marine turtles, ecosystem services and human welfare. While the main economic benefit to be currently valued may stem from the eco-tourism potential surrounding turtle nesting sites, for a true picture of the environmental resources upon which this service depends, it is necessary to also identify the other provisioning, regulating and cultural services of the resource. In this way, human welfare impacts can be more truly judged, and effective resource management can be undertaken.

Genetic Suppressors and Recovery of Repressed Biochemical Memory

Many of the Reflections articles in this journal have focused on particular biological problems that the authors have devoted their careers to or on particular techniques that have facilitated their biological studies. Although I began my career as a biochemist, one of the most common threads to my research has been the exploitation of a genetic approach, the analysis of suppressor mutations. Particularly in the last 20 years, the success of this approach has led me into biological problems that required a remembering or relearning of my early training in biochemistry. This article will describe the voyage from chemistry and biochemistry to genetics and then to a recovery of remnants of my biochemical memory. As a graduate student working under Lowell Hager at Harvard in the late 1950s, my thesis research was chemical and biochemical, as I performed the chemical synthesis and studied the biosynthesis of the chlorinated mold product caldariomycin (2,2-dichloro-1,3-cyclopentanediol) (1–3). With his postdoctoral fellow Paul Shaw, Lowell had discovered an enzyme, chloroperoxidase, that was capable of utilizing chloride ion to chlorinate organic compounds (4). Part of my work was to determine how this enzyme might be involved in the biosynthesis of caldariomycin. Apparently, the work became somewhat well known. This I learned when, toward the end of my Ph.D. work, I attended a FASEB meeting in Atlantic City to give a short presentation. As I walked into the conference center on the first day, a scientist passing by me stopped to look at my badge, hesitated a moment, and then commented “Beckwith... hmmm, oh yes, I remember... chlorination!” Despite this really quite limited chemical/biochemical notoriety, I became more and more fascinated by bacterial genetics in graduate school. I proceeded to do postdoctoral work in several bacterial genetics laboratories.

Reviewing concerns for illegal land use and adaptation to climate change in popular urban areas of the Lac Region

Reviewing concerns for illegal land use and adaptation to climate change in popular urban areas of the Lac Region

Reviewing concerns for illegal land use and adaptation to climate change in popular urban areas of the Lac Region

This article was submitted without an abstract, please refer to the full-text PDF file.

Brain Drain in Developing Regions (1990-2000)

In this paper, we analyze the distribution of the brain drain in the LAC region (Latin America and the Caribbean), Asia and Africa. We rely on an original data set on international migration by educational attainment for 1990 and 2000. Our analysis reveals that the brain drain is strong in Eastern, Middle and Western Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. However, the Kernel approach suggests that the dispersion and the intradistribution dynamics of skilled migration rates strongly differ across regions. We then tautologically disentangle the brain drain into two multiplicative components, the global migration rate and the selection bias. Among the most affected countries, LAC countries suffer from high migration rates whilst most African countries suffer from high selection biases. Finally, exploratory Moran's tests reveal strong spatial, political and cultural autocorrelations in migration rates and selection biases. The latter result suggests that skilled workers react differently than unskilled workers to a large set of variables.

Rebuttal: Growth under Selection Stimulates Lac + Reversion (Roth and Andersson)

Rebuttal: Growth under Selection Stimulates Lac ⁺ Reversion (Roth and Andersson)

Evidence that selected amplification of a bacterial lac frameshift allele stimulates Lac(+) reversion (adaptive mutation) with or without general hypermutability.

In the genetic system of Cairns and Foster, a nongrowing population of an E. coli lac frameshift mutant appears to specifically accumulate Lac(+) revertants when starved on medium including lactose (adaptive mutation). This behavior has been attributed to stress-induced general mutagenesis in a subpopulation of starved cells (the hypermutable state model). We have suggested that, on the contrary, stress has no direct effect on mutability but favors only growth of cells that amplify their leaky mutant lac region (the amplification mutagenesis model). Selection enhances reversion primarily by increasing the mutant lac copy number within each developing clone on the selection plate. The observed general mutagenesis is attributed to a side effect of growth with an amplification-induction of SOS by DNA fragments released from a tandem array of lac copies. Here we show that the S. enterica version of the Cairns system shows SOS-dependent general mutagenesis and behaves in every way like the original E. coli system. In both systems, lac revertants are mutagenized during selection. Eliminating the 35-fold increase in mutation rate reduces revertant number only 2- to 4-fold. This discrepancy is due to continued growth of amplification cells until some clones manage to revert without mutagenesis solely by increasing their lac copy number. Reversion in the absence of mutagenesis is still dependent on RecA function, as expected if it depends on lac amplification (a recombination-dependent process). These observations support the amplification mutagenesis model.

The effect of genomic position on reversion of a lac frameshift mutation (lacIZ33) during non-lethal selection (adaptive mutation).

In a system described by Cairns and Foster, starvation of a particular leaky lac mutant (lacIZ33) in the presence of lactose appears to direct mutation in non-growing cells to sites that allow growth (adaptive mutation). This behaviour requires that the lac operon be located on an F' plasmid. This position effect was investigated by placing the mutant lac operon at many sites in the genome of Salmonella enterica (Typhimurium; LT2) and testing reversion behaviour. Genomic position did not affect reversion during non-selective growth. When lac was at any of 550 chromosomal sites, starvation caused little or no enhancement of reversion. In the 28 strains with the lac on Salmonella's conjugative plasmid (pSLT), selection enhanced reversion strongly, just as seen for strains with lac on an F' plasmid. In 46 strains, the lac operon was inserted within a small chromosomal duplication, and selection stimulated RecA-dependent partial reversion by simple amplification (about 8x) of the mutant lac region. The position of lac on a conjugative plasmid is important to reversion because it allows more frequent gene duplication and amplification. These events are central to growth and reversion under selection because they increase the number of replicating lac alleles within each developing revertant clone.