Abstract. Deepening in the European Union (EU) integration process has enhanced the question of economic disparities at a regional level. The convergence process observed until the late seventies was exhausted onwards in coincidence with important changes in the economic activity. The paper shows how these factors would have provoked a regional differenciated response that, despite being important, would have not strengthened the decrease in regional inequalities. We use an alternative and (in our opinion) richer approach to the traditional convergence analysis, where the evolution of the whole regional distribution is what matters and not that of a representative economy. Moreover, when analysing inequalities among regional economies, the geographical space acquire an outstanding role. Hence, we apply spatial association tests and relate them to the convergence analysis.Resum. El avance en el proceso de integración ha aumentado el interés por la evolución de las disparidades económicas entre las regiones de la Unión Europea.El proceso de convergencia observado hasta finales de los setenta parece haberse agotado, coincidiendo con importantes cambios en el desarrollo de la actividad económica. El trabajo muestra como estos factores habrían provocado una respuesta regional diferenciada que, pese a ser importante, no habría contribuido a la disminución de las disparidades. En el trabajo se utiliza una aproximación alternativa a la empleada en el tradicional análisis de convergencia, donde lo que se considera es la evolución de la totalidad de la distribución y no unicamente aquélla de una economía representativa. Adicionalmente, cuando se estudian las disparidades entre economías regionales, el espacio adquiere un papel destacado.Por ello se aplican contrastes de asociación espacial y se relacionan con el análisis de convergencia. KEY WORDS: Convergence, EU regions, Distribution dynamics JEL classification: O40, O52, R12¡Error!Marcador no definido. IntroductionThe topic of regional economic convergence has generated considerable interest in recent years. In the case of the EU this interest has been enhanced by the deepening and widening in the integration process. It is well known that the question of regional economic disparities acquired a relevant status both from an economic and political point of view with the accession of Greece, Spain andPortugal. The performance of these economies since then, as a whole as well as that of each one of their regions, might be seen as an empirical evidence of the impact of the integration process. In this sense, the implementation of the Single European Market and the Economic and Monetary Union might play an important role in the evolution of regional disparities, even though a consensus of their effects is far from being achieved from a theoretical point of view (Abraham and Van Rompuy 1995). In any case, there is a general agreement in the existence of a decrease in regional inequalities (ie convergence) from the fifties to the seventies and a relative stagnation afterwards...

The yam bean (Pachyrhizus erosus) is an excellent alternative crop for the agricultural diversification in the American tropics, because the tuberous roots can be used as food and natural insecticides are produced with the rotenone extracted from the seeds. The main object of this trial was to submit the latest research findings obtained from the testing of new yam bean genotypes, under different environments in Costa Rica. Three experiments were established during April and July of 1993: 10 genotypes were evaluated at two localities, Alajuela and Turrialba, in the first two trials. The third trial conducted in Turrialba consisted of planting distances (0.10,0.15 and 0.20 m between plants. As a whole, there is a marked tendency with respect to the locality, as it was proven in consecutive trials that Alajuela is the most appropiated zone for growing yam bean. With reference to planting distances, the preliminary results suggest that at shorter distances, the larger the root production and the lower their weight. The yam bean offers an alternative to be considered for the agricultural development of the region because of itsadaptation within the farmers', systems, improving the food sustainability.

RESUMEN La disminución en el número de colmenas de Apis mellifera en diversos países de la Unión Europea y en los ABSTRACT The decline in the number of hives of Apis mellifera in many countries of the European Union and the United States has worried beekeepers, farmers, environmentalists, governments and corporations. Among the factors considered are: poor nutrition of bees, artificial supplements and to a lesser extent to a decrease in the abundance and diversity of flowers in the wild plant species all of which makes bees susceptible to diseases caused by viruses, bacteria and microsporidia which, in turn, are considered cofactors for the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). It also noted that the mites as Acarapis woodi and