Letter from the Director
of the Military Academy of Cadets,
alma mater of the Colombian National Army

The ‘Military Studies’ section consists of four articles: (1) Exploring new territory: recent contributions to the study of the relations between China and Latin America, by Benjamin Creutzfeldt,a sinologist and lecturer of Contemporary China Studies at CESA (Colegio de Estudios Superiores en Administración) in Bogota, and the editor of China en América Latina: reflexiones sobre las relaciones transpacíficas (China in Latin America: reflections on trans-Pacific relationships), publishedin December 2012 by Externado University. (2) The fight against drugs in Latin America and the initiatives generated from OEA and UNASUR, by the professors Walter Cadena-Afanador and Camilo Andrés Devia-Garzón, from Nueva Granada Military University. (3) Transforming the strategy in the age of conversation, original article associated with the research project “Alignment among strategy,structure and culture to achieve competitiveness in superettes from the Cauca Valley, Colombia”, byOlga Herminda Román-Muñoz and César Augusto Patiño-Vargas professors at the University of San Buenaventura from Santiago de Cali. (4) A critique of the accounting representation in a historical perspective: from the reflection of a profound reality to the pure simulacrum, by the Colombian public accountants Édgar Gracia López, Rafael Antonio Franco Ruiz and María Victoria Agudelo Vargas, a progress in research in epistemology of accounting, in the context of the Doctorate in Accounting Sciences at the University of los Andes of Venezuela.

The ‘Human Rights and Humanitarian Law’ section contains the article Power, gender and democracy. From domination to gender equality, article associated with a MSc research on democracy and global transformations at the University of Helsinski, Findaland, by Felipe Jaramillo Ruiz, professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University Sergio Arboleda in Bogotá, Colombia.

The ‘Education’ section includes a single article: The formation of values of responsibility and cooperative team work, in the research process for the degree work, a research team led by professor Martha Hortensia Arana-Ercilla, PhD, with the active participation of Colonel Carlos Miguel Acosta-Arévalo, Major Vicente Hernán Ibarra-Argoty, and the student Jhon Huérfano-Caicedo, acting as a seedbed for research in our ‘General José María Córdova’ Military School of Cadets.

The ‘Science and Technology’ section has six papers (1) Dermatoglífia, somatotípia e qualidades físicas dos policiais do batalhão de operações especiais-BOPE (Dermatoglyphics, somatotype and physical qualities of police of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police Special Operations Battalion–BOPE), by the Brazilian professors Marcello Rodrigues dos Santos, MsC and José Fernades Filho, PhD, two internationally recognized experts within their research field to help determine the genetic (dermatogliphics, ACTN3, ECA) and anthromometric profiles of the physical, social, and psychological qualities from soldiers and police officers. (2) Comparison of the stages of change for physical activity and physical exercise in Brazilian and Catalan university students, by the psychologist Martha Claudia Gómez-Tinoco from the ESMIC, article associated with the research project based on the doctoral thesis in order for her to strengthen investigative capacity and obtain a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DAS), from a doctorate in the psychology of human learning offered by the Basic, Developmental Letter from the Director of the Military Academy of Cadets, alma mater of the Colombian National Army and Educational Psychology Department, at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. (3) Causes of failure of primary surgery of anterior cruciate ligament in Catalan football players, by Santiago Gómez-García, MD from the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of Villa Clara, Cuba, article based on the pre-doctoral thesis Causes of Failure of Primary Surgery of Anterior Cruciate Ligament in order for her to strengthen investigative capacity and obtain a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DAS), from a Doctorate in Surgery offered by the Faculty of Medicine, of said Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. (4) Mechanic characteristics of asphalt mixtures as a function of the origin and gradation of quarried aggregate, by the research professors at the Colombian Military University Nueva Granada of Bogotá Oscar Oscar Javier Reyes-Ortiz, PhD In civil engineering from the the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, Javier Fernando Camacho-Tauta, PhD civil engineering from the Technical University of Lisbon, and Angie Londoño León, MsC. (5) Impact of oil spills on the mechanical properties of sandy soil, a paper associated with studies on the evaluation of variations in the mechanic characteristics caused by oil spills from the hydrocarbons industry, written by three Colombian civil engineers: professor María Fernanda Serrano-Guzmán, PhD in civil engineering with particular emphasis on environmental impact, and Director General Research Office at the Pontific Bolivarian University of Bucaramanga, Colombia, co-authored with professor Luz Marina Torrado-Gómez, MsC, Coordinator of Laboratories at the same university, and professor Diego Darío Pérez-Ruiz, PhD in soils, and the Director of the Civil and Industrial Engineering Department at the Pontifical University Javeriana, Cali, Colombia.

Finally, the ‘History’ section contains the article Colombia among wars (1919-1939), by RicardoEsquivel-Triana, PhD in history from the National University of Colombia, and professor at theColombian War College of the armed forces, whose paper is based on his research on the militaryformation in Colombia from the 19th to the 20th centuries.

We invite all members of the academic community to publish their research papers in military topics, in Spanish, English, French or Portuguese, for the following issues of the REVCGJMC.

Additional information about REVCGJMC is available here:

e-mail: revistacientifica@esmic.edu.co, jesusasp@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.esmic.edu.co/esmic/index.php/vicerrectoria/investigaciones/revista-cientifica/ediciones

Brigadier General Jorge Arturo Salgado Restrepo

Acknowledgements

The Editor wishes to express sincere gratitude to all authors who enriched with their articles the 12th issue of the Colombian Research Journal, Revista Científica “General José María Córdova” (REVCGJMC), a semi-annual publication of the ‘General José María Córdova’ Military Academy of Cadets, the alma mater of Colombian National Army; to the Colombian artist Jhon Jairo Prieto Otavo, for painting exclusively his pictures in order to decorate the journal section dividers, called Exempla artium (Artistic Expression); to Yeimi Báez Sánchez, a student in Public Accountancy at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogotá, Colombia, for preparing the painter’s biography, as well as for her socio-cultural animation of the cultural accounting project proposed by the editor to his students at the same universtiy, as a classroom reaserch. And of course, to each one of the members of the Editorial Board of the REVCGJMC.