Universidad de Los Andes

Effect of Glutathione S‐Transferase and Metallothionein Polymorphisms on Mercury Levels and End‐Stage Renal Disease ( ESRD ) in Colombian Patients

ABSTRACT Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a link between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and environmental mercury (Hg) exposure. Colombia has a well‐documented history of artisanal and small‐scale gold mining, where Hg exposure affects miners and nearby riverside and urban...

GovTech Ecosystems in Latin America and the Digital Governance Paradox: A Systematic Review of Innovation Labs, Procurement Reform, and Collaborative Governance

GovTech ecosystems in Latin America are expanding rapidly, yet many initiatives struggle to scale beyond isolated pilots. While prior research has identified technological and regulatory barriers, limited attention has been given to how technological, organizational, and environm...

Mental Health Factors in Cardiothoracic Surgery Risk Prediction Models: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Mental health disorders are associated with substantial morbidity and death in cardiovascular disease, yet their role in perioperative risk stratification remains unclear in patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery. We evaluated how mental health disorders are curre...

Prevention of sexual violence in the public university in Guatemala – qualitative survey on suggestions from students

Sexual violence is a global problem in higher education, with multiple adverse academic, social, and health outcomes. Universities can take several primary and secondary preventative actions to combat violence. The stakeholder (i.e. student) suggestions for universities have rece...

Cosmological Constraints from Full-scale Clustering and Galaxy–Galaxy Lensing with DESI DR1

Abstract We present constraints on cosmic structure growth from the analysis of galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing with galaxies from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 1. Our analysis includes four samples drawn from the Bright Galaxy Survey (B...

Joint Modeling of GD-1 and C-19 as Old Streams

Abstract DESI observational data for the GD-1 and C-19 streams are compared to stream simulations in an evolving multihalo potential of a Milky Way–like galaxy based on a cosmological Milky Way–like simulation. The number of subhalos decreases with time, and the subhalo-stream en...

Phase Change Materials in Concrete: A Review of Incorporation Methods, Effect on Mechanical and Thermal Properties, and Long-Term Performance

Abstract The construction industry faces increasing pressure to reduce energy consumption and improve the thermal resilience of infrastructure. While integrating phase change materials (PCMs) into concrete can significantly enhance thermal energy storage, it often compromises mec...

PEEK Pectus Bar: Evaluation of a New Material for Pectus Excavatum Repair in Children and Teenagers

The Nuss procedure for Pectus Excavatum repair has relied on metallic bars for the past 3 decades. The technical efforts have focused on the improvement of stability and the reduction of the associated risks. However, some challenges still remain, like metal ion release, thoracic...

Curating Military Victimhood: Humanitarian Counterinsurgency, Lawfare, and Accountability in Colombia

ABSTRACT This article examines how “military victimhood” was produced as a political technology in Colombia after the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC‐EP. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted between 2017 and 2022, it traces how kidnapping, improvised explosive devices, a...

The Composite Spectrum of QSO Absorption Line Systems in DESI DR2

Abstract We present details regarding a composite spectrum of quasar (QSO) absorption line systems. In this composite spectrum, we identify more than 70 absorption lines and observe oxygen and hydrogen emission features at a higher signal-to-noise ratio than any previous study. A...

Large Language Models for Code Generation from Multilingual Prompts: A Curated Benchmark and a Study on Code Quality

Large Language Models (LLMs) perform differently on identical tasks when prompted in different languages—a phenomenon known as language bias. Although well-documented for general text generation, the extent to which language bias affects code generation quality and programming co...

Beyond Saying “Gracias”: Enhancing the Understanding and Expression of Gratitude in Elementary School Children through a Game-Based App

The cultivation of character strengths like gratitude can enhance children’s well-being and prosocial behavior. While school-based interventions exist, there is a lack of rigorously evaluated, gamified tools that explicitly teach gratitude to preadolescent children. This study ev...

The DESI Y1 RR Lyrae Catalog. I. Empirical Modeling of the Cyclic Variation of Spectroscopic Properties and a Chemodynamical Analysis of the Outer Halo

Abstract We present the catalog of RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) observed in the first year of operations of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. This catalog contains 6240 RRLs out to ∼120 kpc from the Galactic center and over 12,000 individual epochs with homogeneous...

The first annotated checklist of the bees of Colombia reveals an overlooked diversity and areas with major data deficiencies

Background Most existing knowledge about bee biodiversity comes from temperate regions, where diversity is presumed highest—yet substantial data gaps across the tropics confound this pattern. Checklists are critical for documenting species presence, identifying knowledge gaps, an...

The DESI Y1 RR Lyrae Catalog. II. The Metallicity Dependency of Pulsational Properties, the Shape of the RR Lyrae Instability Strip, and Metal Rich RR Lyrae

Abstract RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) are valuable probes of both Milky Way assembly and stellar-evolution physics. Using a sample 6240 RRLs obtained in the first year of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, we investigate the metallicity of RRLs and its correlation w...

Water relations and gas exchange across developmental stages in the páramo rosette Paepalanthus alpinus Körn. (Eriocaulaceae) in the tropical high Andes

Alpine environments impose strong and rapidly fluctuating constraints on plant function, yet ontogenetic modulation of physiological strategies in tropical alpine rosettes remains poorly understood. We examined stage-specific variations in leaf water potential and gas exchange of...

A new bubblegum coral from the Nazca Ridge reveals chitin as the structural scaffold of skeleton-less Paragorgia colonies

Abstract Bubblegum corals ( Paragorgia ; Corallidae) form among the largest branching colonies in deep-sea environments despite lacking an axial skeleton. How these octocorals maintain structural cohesion using only sub-millimeter sclerites has remained unexplained. Here we descr...

The Effects of Homicides on Childcare Classroom Quality and Child Development

Community violence exposure (CVE) can disrupt children’s learning. This study examines how recent homicides near early childhood education providers (ECEPs) affect classroom quality and child outcomes in Colombia. We use data collected from low-income children (age: M = 45.35 mon...

Brand relationships in conversation: a review of conversational agents using bibliometrics and language models

Purpose This paper aims to synthesise research on conversational agents in the context of brand relationships to map the current state of knowledge, propose an integrative framework and develop a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses 293 publicat...

The Steklov Spectrum of Convex Polygonal Domains II: Investigating Spectral Determination

Abstract The extent to which the geometry of an object is determined by some associated spectral data is a longstanding problem. We investigate this problem in the context of the Steklov spectrum, focusing on convex polygons. We prove that almost all triangles are uniquely determ...