Universidad del Norte, Colombia

About: Universidad del Norte, Colombia is a education organization based out in Barranquilla, Colombia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 3562 authors who have published 4355 publications receiving 37861 citations. The organization is also known as: University of the North, Colombia & Uninorte.

Including deprivation costs in facility location models for humanitarian relief logistics

Abstract: Humanitarian assistance is meant to save lives and alleviate human suffering during and in the aftermath of man-made and natural disasters. To prevent and strengthen preparedness for the occurrence of such situations, having available relief supplies in the short-term becomes crucial. The lack of access to life-sustaining items implies a loss in people's welfare, treated as an externality called deprivation costs which must be incorporated into decision-making processes. Since typical humanitarian applications are extensions of commercial logistic models, they usually do not account for externalities, leading to high social costs and likely to unfeasible or suboptimal solutions. This paper develops a facility location model for prepositioning supplies in preparation for disasters; the key feature of this formulation being the fact that it explicitly considers deprivation costs in the objective function. The model attempts to minimize the global social costs, as the sum of both private costs (i.e. costs of transportation, inventory costs and fixed costs of facilities) and deprivation costs, determining the amount per type of product to be prepositioned for serving the areas affected by a disaster during the initial response. The model focuses on those assistance interventions that should be carried out immediately, i.e. within the first 24 h of a humanitarian crisis. We applied the model, using real information, to the Colombian Caribbean region, which was affected by floods in 2010 and 2011. Results demonstrate that deprivation costs represent more than 50% of the total social cost.

Identidad y subjetividad en las redes sociales virtuales: caso de facebook

Abstract: Los llamados espacios virtuales, creados para establecer y fortalecer las redes sociales, han adquirido gran popularidad en los ultimos 5 anos. Sitios como Facebook o MySpace trascienden las barreras de lenguaje y las fronteras geograficas, permitiendo a los usuarios interactuar con una mayor cantidad de personas, a pesar de la distancia fisica o las diferencias culturales, en lo que Marshall McLuhan (1964) definiera como la era electronica . El presente articulo da cuenta de reflexiones que han motivado el proyecto “La construccion de la identidad y subjetividad en los jovenes en Colombia en las redes sociales virtuales. Caso de Facebook”, cuyo interes se centra en la creacion y re-formulacion de subjetividad e identidad en las redes sociales virtuales

The ties that bind: the relationship between caregiver burden and the neuropsychological functioning of TBI survivors.

Abstract: Advances in medical and assistive technology have increased the likelihood of survival following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) Consequently, families frequently must provide care to individuals with TBI Because they are rarely prepared for the associated demanding medical needs and financial burden, family caregivers are at risk for physical and emotional problems, which can negatively influence their individual and family functioning Whereas scholars have examined the influence of survivor functioning on caregiver burden, few have explicitly recognized that caregiver burden also influences survivor functioning Results of a multivariate linear regression suggest that, in a sample of 51 pairs of TBI survivors and their caregivers living in Colombia, survivors receiving care from a family member who reported a higher level of burden had poorer objective neuropsychological functioning than those receiving care from a family member who reported a lower level of burden, after controlling for survivor education and history of occupational therapy Therefore, a family-focused approach might maximize intervention effectiveness, especially for Latin American and Hispanic families, which tend to be characterized by a strong sense of familism The emphasis on family can create problems in a healthcare system that views the individual as the primary unit