Thesis (Professional Degree)--University of Missouri, School of Mines and Metallurgy, 1940. / The entire thesis text is included in file. Typescript. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed March 8, 2010)

The importance of education for individual well-being, social cohesion and economic growth is widely accepted by researchers and policymakers alike. Yet there exist vast numbers of people around the world, largely poor, who continue to lag behind wealthier people, often within their own nations. Conditional cash transfer programs were created to encourage investments in education and health by subsidizing their cost and changing household preferences. The programs increase short-term income as well as future wage potential, thus decreasing short-term and long-term poverty, as well as the poverty that is passed from generation to generation. Begun in Mexico and Brazil, the conditional cash transfer model is being replicated in many countries, but its replicability across socioeconomic and political contexts is far from clear. The present study adds to the research on conditional cash transfer programs through a comparative quantitative analysis of the effects of two programs on key educational outcomes in Nicaragua and Colombia. Using secondary panel data for the Nicaraguan Red de Proteccion Social and the Colombian Familias en Accion programs, a model reflecting demand constraints to education is used to determine the relative impacts of individual and household characteristics in the schooling decision, as well as to measure program impact in some of the most impoverished communities in the two countries. The empirical analysis is situated within a description of the historical, political and demographic contexts into which the programs were introduced. The results indicate that both programs increased enrollment and attendance, with lesser but still positive effects on retention. These effects were stronger for boys in Colombia, as was the importance of schooling expectations in determining enrollment. The study suggests that conditional cash transfer programs should be effective in other settings in which low educational attainment is caused largely by a lack of household resources. / text

Interpretation of seismic profiles, earthquake fault-plane solutions, radar images, and geometry of structures suggests that two different structural styles are viable alternatives for the Putumayo basin in Colombia. An eastern domain, varying in width from 4 to 13 km, might be characterized by strike-slip faulting parallel to the Andes because it exhibits similar structures to those formed in restraining bend settings, an example is the Orito fold, the largest known oil field in the basin. Correlation of seismic reflections with wells into the Orito fold and foreland indicates a post-Miocene age for this structure. Previous interpretations of contractional dip-slip movement on Andes-parallel structures, as proposed by Portilla (1991) with faults involving basement, are also viable. A 15 km-width western domain is interpreted as a region of foreland-dipping rocks uplifted above their regional level by wedging of pre-Cretaceous (?) rocks beneath known Jurassic rocks. Above the Jurassic rocks thin-skinned deformation occurs inside of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary cover, also in the form of wedging. Mesozoic and Paleozoic (?) rocks were injected into of a late Cretaceous-early Paleocene unit composed of shale. The western domain is truncated to the west by a major reverse fault that places Paleozoic rocks over Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. / text

This graduate report, more than a formal description of the artistic developments I have gradually acknowledged, is a personal and perhaps arbitrary recollection of ideas that might help the reader–and me–understand the nature of the gestures that have evidently influenced the work I have produced in the past two years. These words belong to an inevitable act of introspection that seeks to validate some of the questions that have directed my artistic investigation throughout this time. I believe my work derives from two different and yet relevant positions: on one hand, the need to find meaning out of brutal events that have indisputably marked the course of history, specially in Colombia–my home country–where victims appear to loose their voices in a context ruled by indifference and apathy; and, on the other, the desire to understand what controls the reception of violent imagery as we depend on how social location, collective identification and political affiliation dictate the way we perceive the world. Each project mentioned in this report is a result of studying obsessively the political kidnappings that have been taking place in Colombia in the past twenty years, as a response to an allegedly abuse of power induced by the government against Las FARC, one of the most powerful guerrilla groups in Latin America. However each one is far from being a true document of real events and on the contrary, each one emerges as a naïve interpretation, possibly an illustration, of an ambiguous conflict that has no reasonable explanation but being a natural product of a conservative warfare–which in fact is no less than a reading made by a distant and passive witness like myself. / text

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This thesis seeks to answer the question: how healthy, relatively speaking, are civil-military relations in South America? To answer this, key variables from three of the touchstone works in civil-military literature, namely, Samuel Huntington’s “The Soldier and the State,” Morris Janowitz’s “The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait,” and Samuel Finer’s “The Man On Horseback.” and journal articles were gleaned. A total of twenty-two variables were identified and divided into three categories: State Comparative, Civilian and Military variables that are connected to “healthy” civil-military relations in the literature. These variables were then applied to all twelve South American states. The results were then compared to the United States, which the literature suggests is the closest to having “ideal” civil-military relations. To ensure that the paper comparison matches practice, this thesis reviewed Colombia in-depth. Its military is not only the second largest in the region, but also one that plays a vital role in society. The overall results from this comparative assessment indicate that there is a bimodal distribution among South American states in terms of the variables indicating healthy civil-military relations. Although it is clear that all States still need major improvements, half have healthier civil-military relations than the other half.

Colombia in the second half of the nineteenth century was a country with extensive poverty and vulnerability was the main characteristic of the poor. A general concern about the conditions of the poor, particularly in urban areas, was broadly manifested. Poverty was seen basically as a moral problem, and poor relief was implemented within a process of moralization. Between 1870 and 1930 poor relief underwent significant transformation: it grew appreciably, became more complex, more dynamic, more professional and more specialized; it passed gradually from being strongly localized to a departmental and national orientation. Poor relief involved the decision from the state to incorporate the 'social' in the government agenda and by 1930 started to be more grounded in political reality. An identifiably modern 'social policy' came into being, even though it contained some ambiguities and traditional values. There were two main forms of poor relief: institutional and outdoor. Institutional poor relief was predominantly carried out by the state and some private societies. Some state poor relief establishments continued to be run by religious orders. Outdoor poor relief was only implemented by private societies and institutions. For poor relief public beneficencia and private charity were equally important. In this period the state attempted to consolidate resources for beneficencia and for social assistance; it created specific poor relief taxes and established special funds. Private giving was linked to traditional Christian charity. Charity was constant, large and participants covered a broad social spectrum. Modern ideas of charity were progressively introduced, generating a professionalization of voluntary activities. Alongside poor relief there were other survival strategies promoted by the poor of which mutual aid societies were the best example. They grew considerably and they gave support to their members in an any eventualities. They were certainly important in the formation of'social capital'. Sources for this research are dispersed; most of them came from institutions, societies, establishments that carried out poor relief activities. Research about poor relief generally and inevitably has to face a lack of informal data on many aspects of the subject, though much can be gained through the study of wills.