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The development of university students’ skills to successfully produce scientific documents has been a recurring topic of study in academia. This paper analyzes the implementation of a training experience using a digital environment mediated by video content materials starring humanoid robots. The research aimed to scale complex thinking and its sub-competencies as a hinge to strengthen basic academic research skills. Students from Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico committed to preparing a scientific document as part of their professional training participated. A pretest to know their initial level of perception, a posttest to evaluate if there was a change, and a scientific document the students delivered at the end of the training experience comprised the methodology to demonstrate the improvement of their skills. The results indicated students’ perceived improvement in the sub-competencies of systemic, creative, scientific, and innovative thinking; however, their perceptions did not align with that of the tutor who reviewed the delivered scientific product. The conclusion was that although the training experience helped strengthen the students’ skills, variables that are determinants for a student to develop the knowledge necessary to prepare scientific documents and their derived products remain to be analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, climate change is not the only threat facing our planet. There are also other types of pollution such as waste that poisons soils and water and kills plants, harming humans and animals. Sustainability represents a key issue for the actual Global Citizen. For this reason, our article is dedicated to offering biofriendly solutions to decrease wastes, give them a positive meaning, such as a substrate for an edible oyster fungus with nutritive and biological properties usefully for humans. Three types of wastes such as coconut coir, pine sawdust, and paper waste—representative symbols of pollution in Ecuador—have been tested as suitable growing substrate for the edible fungi Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. ex Fr.) P. Kumm by analyzing parameters such as Biological Efficiency, Mushroom Yield, and Productive Rate. The influence of these "waste" substrates on the nutritive (protein content), biological characteristic (antioxidant activity), and the content of human-health-sustaining compounds (phenols, flavonoids) were also evaluated using the Kjeldahal, DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and Folin–Ciocalteu methods. The results indicate that all the waste products represent desirable substrates for growing the edible fungi, with more focus on coconut coir waste (one of the principal pollution problems in Ecuador), but that also achieved the increase in the fungi's desirable characteristics. Coconut coir waste could be an environmentally friendly solution that also offers for humans additional nutritive and healthy benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Colombiana de Entomología is the property of Universidad del Valle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (ISAG) is an international conference that was held, on average, every 3–4 years in different European cities between 1990 (Grenoble) and 2008 (Nice). These symposia usually offer an opportunity for researchers from Latin American countries and Europe as well as other countries to review the state of knowledge in geosciences on the Andes. After a long period without an edition, the 8th ISAG was organized for the first time in a Latin American country, Ecuador, from 24th to 26th September 2019. The organizing committee led by Pablo Samaniego relied heavily on the Instituto Geofísico of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN) and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), in particular through its office in Quito, and through the Laboratoire Mixte International in France and Ecuador: "Seismes et Volcans dans les Andes du Nord" (LMI-SVAN); and the French Embassy in Ecuador. Field trips in tectonics, seismotectonics and volcanology at emblematic sites in Ecuador were organized by researchers from the IRD (Isterre and LMV), the Institut de Radio Protection Nucléaire (IRSN), IG-EPN and the University of Geneva. Four invited speakers gave presentations: Peter Molnar (University of Boulder) on the mechanisms of the Andes uplift, Suzanne Kay (Cornell University) on its magmatism, Victor Ramos (University of Buenos Aires) on the scientific approaches developed through time for the Andean orogeny and Eric Calais (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris) on the difficulty of dialog between seismic risk specialists and the authorities in Haiti. The symposium also provided an opportunity for more than 250 participants to meet, with more than 80 oral presentations and over 150 posters. As a result of this conference, the Editor of the Journal of South American Earth Sciences proposed to the organizing committee to publish a special issue on the contours of these presentations. Following the peer review process, 19 papers are published in this special issue. These manuscripts reflect the various disciplinary fields, geophysics and deep imaging, tectonics, volcanism, geomorphology and seismic hazard, from the local scale to the Andes as a whole. Not surprisingly, a higher density of works is found in Ecuador and the northern Andes (Figure 1). As this collection of articles reflects the outlines of a symposium and not a specific scientific question, our aim here is not to develop a synthesis of current knowledge on the Andes. We therefore present these articles in sequence, by discipline, although this categorization may appear subjective since some articles are multidisciplinary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The El Niño phenomenon – and its associated phenomena El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and La Niña – have become probably the most well-known forms of natural climatic variability. El Niño forecasts underpin regional Climate Outlook Forums in many parts of the world. The declaration of El Niño conditions can unlock development aid money and El Niño events commonly receive widespread media coverage. Yet 'El Niño' has not always meant what it does today. The name was originally applied to an annually-occurring ocean current that affected northern Peru and Ecuador, so called because it arrived at Christmas (the Christ Child). The transition in meaning to a complex global phenomenon was related as much to commercial and geopolitical priorities as to the oceanic and atmospheric observations that underpin theories of El Niño dynamics. In this paper, I argue that scientific conceptualisations of El Niño are an example of path dependency. Badging ocean-atmosphere variability as 'El Niño' is unnecessary either for the advancement of science or effective disaster risk reduction; in fact, current definitions are confusing and can create problems in preparing for El Niño-related hazards, as occurred with the 2017 'coastal' El Niño in Peru. This paper outlines the historical processes that led to the current conceptualisations of El Niño and suggests an alternative way of understanding ocean-atmosphere dynamics in the Pacific and beyond. It then considers the implications of this path-dependency on El Niño's ontological politics; that is, who gets to define El Niño, and to what end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that Ecuadorians are one of the largest groups of Hispanics living in New York, they have become a tight community that they now call little Ecuador. Although Ecuadorians living in the diaspora in NYC come from different parts of the country (mostly from the Andean region), they share the same cultural practices they performed in Ecuador that give them the sense of being in their country without bearing the instability and turmoil their country experiences. This shows how the group has fostered a sense of a multifaceted, multidimensional simultaneity between the host country and the motherland. The goal of this paper is to analyze the strategies Ecuadorian migrants use to validate their language and cultural practices to negotiate their identity as a group. Data for this paper come from ethnographic observations, semi-spontaneous conversations, oral interviews with members of the group, along with pictures taken while walking the community and participating in some of their events. Our study reveals that participants hold varying perceptions regarding their linguistic and cultural practices. However, it is noteworthy that they recognize these practices as a manifestation of Ecuadorianness, signifying a sense of solidarity among community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to describe the process of creating CHARG—Corpus de Habla Radiofónica de Guayaquil (the Guayaquil Radiophonic Speech Corpus). It is the first systematized spoken corpus for this rather under-researched variety of Spanish. Guayaquil is the most populated city of Ecuador, while its capital city is Quito. Therefore, Ecuador is a rare case of a Spanish-speaking country with two major urban centers that belong to two separate dialectal zones, offering a very peculiar sociolinguistic context. CHARG is a corpus composed of Guayaquil radio programs. Its structure is organized by non-linguistic criteria (program type) in order to ensure a representative and balanced sample. The paper describes the design of the corpus (defining the study population, sample and stratification) and its construction (recording procedure, speakers and speech style coding, transcription and annotation). As a result, CHARG consists of 24 h of transcriptions and annotations of recordings from 142 speakers. The paper's potential use is twofold: since it presents a step-by-step procedure of corpus construction that can be replicated, the readers might be interested in both the procedure and the corpus itself as a research material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: Women of childbearing age not only reside in agricultural communities but also form an integral part of the agricultural labor force. Limited research investigates the impact of prenatal fungicide exposure on infant health, specifically ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and their toxic by-product, ethylenethiourea (ETU), particularly in occupational settings. This paper describes the background, aims, protocol, and baseline sample characteristics for the SEMILLA study, which investigates prenatal ETU exposure, neonatal thyroid function, infant growth, and neurobehavioral development in an agricultural region of Ecuador. Methods: This cohort study follows pregnant women and their infants up to 18 months of age, incorporating urinary biomarkers and survey data on ETU exposure and infant growth and neurodevelopmental measures. Data collection includes detailed questionnaires, scales, and physical examinations on maternal and infant health and development, as well as environmental factors. Descriptive statistics on key characteristics of the study population at baseline are presented. Results: SEMILLA enrolled 409 participants (72% enrollment rate): 111 agricultural workers (mostly floricultural), 149 non-agricultural workers, and 149 non-workers. Baseline characteristics show comparability between work sector groups, with some economic differences. Conclusions: SEMILLA will provide key evidence on prenatal fungicide exposure and infant development and encompass comprehensive multistage data collection procedures in pregnancy and infancy, focusing on structural and social determinants of health as well as individual-level chemical exposures. The community-based approach has proven essential, even amid challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. The medium-term objective is to inform sustainable interventions promoting maternal and child health, with a long-term goal to reduce community exposures and improve worker health policies, particularly for women and pregnant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the accelerated growth of cities and the consequent increase in the number of motor vehicles, urban noise levels caused by vehicular traffic have increased considerably. To assess noise levels in cities and implement noise control measures or identify the problem's location in different urban areas, it is necessary to obtain the noise levels to which people are exposed. Noise maps are tools that have applications as they are cartographic representations of the noise level distribution in an area and over a period of time. This article aims to identify, select, evaluate, and synthesize information, through a systematic literature review, on using different road noise prediction models, in sound mapping computer programs in countries that do not have a standard noise prediction model. The analysis period was from 2018 to 2022. From a previous analysis of articles, the choice of topic was based on identifying various models for predicting road noise in countries without a standardized sound mapping model. The papers compiled by a systematic literature review showed that studies concentrated in China, Brazil, and Ecuador, the most used traffic noise prediction models, were the RLS-90 and the NMPB, and the most used mapping programs were SoundPLAN and ArcGIS with a grid size of 10 × 10 m. Most measurements were carried out during a 15-min period at a height from the ground level of 1.5 m. In addition, it was observed that research on noise maps in countries that do not have a local model has been increasing over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology & Society is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Latin America (LATAM) plays an important role in the world's production of aquatic animals and is the second most productive region in the world. Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Perú contribute 87% of LATAM aquaculture production. The fish welfare in aquaculture is of increasing public concern globally, and LATAM is no exception, growing in importance for fish farmers, authorities, and scientists. Although the topic is somewhat controversial, the welfare status of farmed fish has direct implications for their production and the sustainability of the industry. Therefore, this study analyses scientific papers on animal welfare in farmed fish, from the six countries in LATAM with the highest aquaculture production. The main objectives were to quantify the number of papers published between 2000 and 2023 on fish welfare by using scientific databases. A total of 285 papers were found for the period analysed. The country with the largest number of publications was Brazil (75.79%), followed by Chile (13.33%), Mexico (7.02%), Peru (1.75%), Ecuador, and Colombia (1.05%). Nile tilapia was the most studied species, appearing in 30.18% of the publications, with most of the studies mainly dealing with nutrition (32.28%). The growth of aquaculture is leading to joint efforts to generate knowledge on welfare issues, especially in poorly studied species with high production, to create policies that help minimize welfare risks. Given this, the insights generated by this review could be a useful addition to approaches investigating the trends and concepts of fish welfare in LATAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of child labor in Ecuador, employing advanced statistical tools like logistic regression, neutrosophic Likert scales, and similarity measures to deepen the understanding of this social issue. The integration of these methodologies allows for a nuanced assessment of the various socio-economic factors contributing to child labor. By capturing the uncertainty in human responses, the research highlights the complex interplay between poverty, household income, education levels, and labor types on the incidence of child labor. Key findings suggest that rural location, the age of the child, and the informal nature of the head of the household's work are the most significant predictors of child labor. Notably, parental education appears to have a less direct influence. Despite various efforts, including government monetary transfers through programs like the BDH, child labor persists, indicating the need for more targeted interventions.The paper proposes future research to extend these models to a broader demographic and geographic data set, emphasizing the potential for these methods to be applied to a variety of social issues. The development of computational tools to automate neutrosophic analysis could greatly benefit large-scale studies, potentially aiding policymakers in designing more effective interventions for vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an investigation of the factors influencing the decision to purchase processed food based on traffic-light labeling (TLL). To achieve this, we use data from the official National Survey of Health and Nutrition, which gathered information on 26,532 individuals aged between 19 and 59 between 2011 and 2013. Employing a probit regression to assess the likelihood of buying food based on TLL, we identify a positive association between income level and the probability of buying food based on TLL; indeed, our model suggests that a 1% increase in monthly income increases by 0.008 the probability of buying food based on TLL. We infer that people with higher levels of income are more aware of the benefits of TLL and healthy food habits. Our results also suggest that the probability of basing purchasing decisions on TLL is higher for overweight people compared to those of normal weight, that is, overweight people buy their processed food paying more attention to TLL compared to normal weight people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a notion of mergeable weighted majority games with the aim of providing the first characterization of the Colomer–Martínez power index (Colomer and Martínez in J Theor Polit 7(1):41–63, 1995). Furthermore, we define and characterize a new power index for the family of weighted majority games that combines ideas of the Public Good (Holler in Polit Stud 30(2):262–271, 1982) and Colomer–Martínez power indices. Finally, we analyze the National Assembly of Ecuador using these and some other well-known power indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acne is a common disease that is associated with scarring and substantial psychosocial burden. The Global Burden of Skin Disease reported that the burden from acne as measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from 188 countries and specifically that it is greatest in Western Europe, high-income North America and Southern Latin America. This paper aimed to identify risk factors for acne scarring specific to the Ecuadorian population in order to adapt the 4-ASRAT tool accordingly. Methods: This was an observational prospective study. Participants were recruited to complete a survey that was developed based on the potential risk factors for acne scarring and had facial photographs taken. To determine risk factors and their respective weighting, a logistic regression was performed. Results: The study included 404 participants. Results from univariate analyses indicated that being male (OR = 2.76 95%CI [1.72; 4.43]), having severe or very severe acne scarring (OR = 4.28 95%CI [1.24; 14.79]), acne duration over 1 year (OR = 1.71 95%CI [1.12; 2.60]), oily skin (OR = 2.02 95%CI [1.27; 3.22]) and the presence of acne on the neck (OR = 2.26 95%CI [1.30; 3.92]), were all significantly associated with the presence of acne scarring. Male sex (2.56 95%CI [1.58;4.17]), oily skin (1.96 95%CI [1.20;3.20]) and severe or very severe acne (3.75 95%CI [1.05;13.37]) remained significant risk factors for acne scarring in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion: By identifying acne scarring risk factors and applying the tool in everyday dermatology visits, we can reduce the physical and psychological burden that acne scarring causes in the adolescent and adult populations. Further research should be conducted to reassess potential risk factors and complete the adaptation of the tool for the Ecuadorian population, with a larger and more representative study population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, the advancement of hydropower resources has been hindered by economic factors and insufficient data on topography, streamflow, environmental sensitivity, power grid, and, most importantly, the location of potential hydropower sites. This challenge is particularly pronounced in certain African and Latin American river systems. Developing web-based maps of hydropower resources based on geographic information systems and advanced mapping technologies can facilitate the initial assessment of hydropower sites. This is especially relevant for developing sites in remote areas and data-scarce regions. The available geospatial datasets, remote sensing technologies, and advanced GIS modelling techniques can be used to identify potential hydropower sites and assess their preliminary characteristics. This paper reviews web-based hydropower atlases in African and Latin American countries. Their main features are represented and compared with the recently launched HYPOSO map viewer covering two African countries (Cameroon and Uganda) and three Latin American countries (Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador). This hydropower atlas consists of 20 spatial layers. Its particular focus is to present a geospatial dataset of new hydropower sites with concise information for potential investors. These so-called virtual hydropower atlases can be only one type of discovery at the early project stage, automatically identifying sites worthy of further investigation. A formal validation of the web-based atlases, including the HYPOSO hydropower atlas, is briefly considered. Creating open-access hydropower map viewers is anticipated to significantly enhance the hydropower development database in these nations, offering valuable insights for small and medium-scale projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ciencias de la Salud is the property of Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes and analyzes phonological processes pertinent to the glottal stop in A'ingae (or Cofán, iso 639-3: con). The operations which the glottal stops undergo and trigger reveal an interaction of two morphophonological parameters: stratum and stress dominance. First, verbal suffixes are organized in two morphophonological domains, or strata. Within the inner domain, glottal stops affect stress placement, which I analyze as an interaction with foot structure. In the outer domain, glottal stops do not have any effects on stress. Second, some verbal suffixes delete stress (i. e. they are dominant). Dominance is unpredictable and independent of the suffix's morphophonological domain, but dominance and the phonological domain interact in a non-trivial way: only inner dominant suffixes delete glottalization. To account for the A'ingae data, I adopt Cophonologies by Phase (Sande et al. 2020), which (i) models phonological stratification while (ii) allowing for morpheme-specific phonological idiosyncrasies, which (iii) interact with the phonological grammar of their stratum. Stress deletion triggered by the dominant suffixes is modeled with AntiFaithfulness (Alderete 1999, 2001). Antifaithfulness to a metrical foot entails antifaithfulness to its features (glottalization). This captures the fact that only the inner dominant suffixes delete glottal stops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mercados y Negocios is the property of Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Economico Administrativas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud is the property of Centro de Estudiso Avanzados en Ninez y Juventud alaianza Cinde, Universidad de Manizales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This paper examines the potential of "biomarkers" to provide immutable identification for food products (chocolate), providing traceability and visibility in the supply chain from retail product back to farm. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses qualitative data collection, including fieldwork at cocoa farms and chocolate manufacturers in Ecuador and the Netherlands and semi-structured interviews with industry professionals to identify challenges and create a supply chain map from cocoa plant to retailer, validated by area experts. A library of biomarkers is created using DNA collected from fieldwork and the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre, holders of cocoa varieties from known locations around the world. Matching sample biomarkers with those in the library enables identification of origins of cocoa used in a product, even when it comes from multiple different sources and has been processed. Findings: Supply chain mapping and interviews identify areas of the cocoa supply chain that lack the visibility required for management to guarantee sustainability and quality. A decoupling point, where smaller farms/traders' goods are combined to create larger economic units, obscures product origins and limits visibility. These factors underpin a potential boundary condition to institutional theory in the industry's fatalism to environmental and human abuses in the face of rising institutional pressures. Biomarkers reliably identify product origin, including specific farms and (fermentation) processing locations, providing visibility and facilitating control and trust when purchasing cocoa. Research limitations/implications: The biomarker "meta-barcoding" of cocoa beans used in chocolate manufacturing accurately identifies the farm, production facility or cooperative, where a cocoa product came from. A controlled data set of biomarkers of registered locations is required for audit to link chocolate products to origin. Practical implications: Where biomarkers can be produced from organic products, they offer a method for closing visibility gaps, enabling responsible sourcing. Labels (QR codes, barcodes, etc.) can be swapped and products tampered with, but biological markers reduce reliance on physical tags, diminishing the potential for fraud. Biomarkers identify product composition, pinpointing specific farm(s) of origin for cocoa in chocolate, allowing targeted audits of suppliers and identifying if cocoa of unknown origin is present. Labour and environmental abuses exist in many supply chains and enabling upstream visibility may help firms address these challenges. Social implications: By describing a method for firms in cocoa supply chains to scientifically track their cocoa back to the farm level, the research shows that organizations can conduct social audits for child labour and environmental abuses at specific farms proven to be in their supply chains. This provides a method for delivering supply chain visibility (SCV) for firms serious about tackling such problems. Originality/value: This paper provides one of the very first examples of biomarkers for agricultural SCV. An in-depth study of stakeholders from the cocoa and chocolate industry elucidates problematic areas in cocoa supply chains. Biomarkers provide a unique biological product identifier. Biomarkers can support efforts to address environmental and social sustainability issues such as child labour, modern slavery and deforestation by providing visibility into previously hidden areas of the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Technology is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper tells the inside story of a spontaneous uprising in the Ecuadorian Amazon in 2017, in which mestizo, Afro-descendant and Indigenous workers and communities confronted the combined forces of a multinational oil company and a militarized state. The paper documents a rapidly evolving battle that achieved a remarkable victory, and bears witness to the fleeting emergence of an insurgent form of political universality. It suggests that the decolonial dichotomy between top-down universalism and a bottom-up pluriverse should be replaced by an approach that is attentive to manifestations of universality performed by subaltern subjects in their confrontations with extractive capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A documentary review was carried out on the production and publication of research papers related to the study of the variable The Food Industry and its Post-COVID Economic Impact in Latin America. The purpose of the bibliometric analysis proposed in this document is to know the main characteristics of the volume of publications registered in the Scopus database during the period 2016-2021 in Latin American countries, achieving the identification of 54 publications in total. The information provided by the said platform was organized through tables and figures categorizing the information by Year of Publication, Country of Origin, Area of Knowledge, and Type of Publication. Once these characteristics were described, the position of different authors regarding the proposed topic was referenced using a qualitative analysis. Among the main findings of the present research, it is found that Brazil, with 20 publications, is the Latin American country with the highest production. The area of knowledge that made the greatest contribution to the construction of bibliographic material referring to the study of the Food Industry and its Post-COVID Economic Impact was Agricultural and Biological Sciences with 22 published documents and the type of publication that was most used during the period indicated above was the journal article, which represents 50% of the total scientific production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment, a significant economic and social challenge, triggers repercussions that affect individual workers and companies, generating a national economic impact. Forecasting the unemployment rate becomes essential for policymakers, allowing them to make short-term estimates, assess economic health, and make informed monetary policy decisions. This paper proposes the innovative GA-LSTM method, which fuses an LSTM neural network with a genetic algorithm to address challenges in unemployment prediction. Effective parameter determination in recurrent neural networks is crucial and a well-known challenge. The research uses the LSTM neural network to overcome complexities and nonlinearities in unemployment predictions, complementing it with a genetic algorithm to optimize the parameters. The central objective is to evaluate recurrent neural network models by comparing them with GA-LSTM to identify the most appropriate model for predicting unemployment in Ecuador using monthly data collected by various organizations. The results demonstrate that the hybrid GA-LSTM model outperforms traditional approaches, such as BiLSTM and GRU, on various performance metrics. This finding suggests that the combination of the predictive power of LSTM with the optimization capacity of the genetic algorithm offers a robust and effective solution to address the complexity of predicting unemployment in Ecuador. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the emissions of the three most sold categories of light vehicles: sedans, SUVs, and pickups. The research is carried out through an innovative methodology based on GPS and machine learning in real driving conditions. For this purpose, driving data from the three best-selling vehicles in Ecuador are acquired using a data logger with GPS included, and emissions are measured using a PEMS in six RDE tests with two standardized routes for each vehicle. The data obtained on Route 1 are used to estimate the gears used during driving using the K-means algorithm and classification trees. Then, the relative importance of driving variables is estimated using random forest techniques, followed by the training of ANNs to estimate CO2, CO, NOX, and HC. The data generated on Route 2 are used to validate the obtained ANNs. These models are fed with a dataset generated from 324, 300, and 316 km of random driving for each type of vehicle. The results of the model were compared with the IVE model and an OBD-based model, showing similar results without the need to mount the PEMS on the vehicles for long test drives. The generated model is robust to different traffic conditions as a result of its training and validation using a large amount of data obtained under completely random driving conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodistico is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper applies Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to understand the diverse behavior of municipal governments in Ecuador to find common elements that influence the well-being of citizens in the short and long term. Information gathering was conducted in two stages: in the first one, a group of 16 national experts was consulted to develop the initial FCM; in the second stage, local experts from 220 municipalities were interviewed to collect information on the general validity of initial FCMs and specific values given to concepts and relationships in their municipalities. Results show the importance of certain concepts for long-term municipal performance, such as the need for a competitive entrepreneurial sector, improving human resources in the municipality, and, particularly, having a competent mayor with leadership skills and a forward-looking vision that enables the development of municipal projects required to reach an efficient and equitable coverage of goods and services throughout the city. Through the application of genetic algorithms, the FCM was calibrated to ascertain the long-term dynamics of municipal development and the optimal values of the concepts that would optimize the attainment of the set objectives. The derived outcomes suggest the desirability of the maintenance of, in principle, unwanted structures like financial transfers from the central government and the need to exploit natural resources to attain urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts on food prices of temperature, the oil price, the exchange rate and wages in the agricultural industry were examined via a structural vector autoregression model and panel Granger causality test, using monthly data between January 2003 and December 2020 for Latin American countries. The paper concerns how much the determinants affect food prices. Empirical findings show that the oil price and temperature can be significant factors for reducing food inflation. According to the result of variance decomposition, in general, a considerable part of food inflation was explained by the exchange rate, but its effect did not show any significant change in the long term. The impacts of the oil price and temperature were limited in the early months, but they created larger changes over time. Impulse response function and the Granger causality test also indicated that exchange rate was a crucial dynamic in explaining food inflation in all countries except Ecuador. This country successfully mitigated the negative effect of the exchange rate, but the oil price and temperature had an impact on food inflation. All results indicate that both monetary and fiscal policies are essential to control food prices. These countries can accomplish this by conventional policies or by radical institutional changes. Nevertheless, the oil price and temperature are external dynamics, and crucial in creating alternative policies to control food inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has been increasing commitment towards equalizing the researcherparticipant relationship in Indigenous tourism research, practices that transform this commitment into reality are still scarce. In this reflective paper, I argue that food sovereignty principles and a researcher’s reflexivity can improve this situation. To support this argument, I draw from my experience of working collaboratively with Kichwa Napo Runa people in Ecuador while exploring the impacts of tourism on their food sovereignty. I examine my reflexivity in two aspects of my work: 1) research journaling to develop awareness of how my values and relationships influence the research process and outcomes; and 2) using this journal's content to reflexively analyse how my research contributes to food sovereignty goals surrounding the development of social relations that are free of oppression and inequality. My journal's passages show that constant attention to reflexivity can equalize power relationships in research and promote an ethical space between researchers and participants. Overall, this paper contributes to critical Indigenous tourism research approaches and the growing literature on practices involving the implementation of food sovereignty in various fields and contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Latin America — the region with the biggest tropical forest on the planet and the largest potential for agricultural expansion — food security and food sovereignty are two competing approaches to food policies. Drawing on decolonial approaches to political geography, this paper provides a comparative analysis of food policies in the four countries (Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia) that make up the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), a supranational organisation that has enacted a regional food policy aimed at reconciling neoliberal and social orientations of its country-members. The paper contributes to the literature that highlights the multi-scalar nature of food security and food sovereignty by exploring the contentious building of food institutions from the grassroots to national and supranational scales in the Andean region. It also contributes to the critiques that highlight the limits to decolonization by explaining how – apart from hydrocarbon and mining dependence – food policies also express the permanence of coloniality in plurinational states. The paper argues that Andean supranational policies are apparent efforts to balance and harmonize the different interests at stake when actually reinforce a neocolonial sovereign state power that deepens the scalar tensions by intensifying the extractive transnational agriculture over pro-indigenous agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Fashionable brands need to develop brand attachment so that their consumers become fans and act as apostles by recommending them. But how can companies develop brand attachment? This paper aims to investigate, on the one hand, the role of four drivers of brand attachment (perceived quality, brand personality, credibility and awareness) and three effects (loyalty, buying intention and perceived risk). On the other hand, three groups of fashionable brands with different positioning strategies are compared to analyze if the brand positioning strategy moderates the proposed relationships in the analyzed country. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the two objectives, surveys with the same instrument were conducted twice, and a sample of 1,922 consumers from the three most populated cities of Ecuador (Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca) took part in the study. They chose fashionable brands with functional (n = 1,066), hedonic (n = 463) and symbolic (n = 393) positioning strategies. They mentioned, for example, functional brands such as Avon, La Lechera, Nokia or Converse; hedonic brands such as Christian Dior, Oreo, Apple or Timberland and symbolic brands such as Axe, Coca-Cola/Coke, Motorola or DBond. Findings: The results of this study show that (1) brand positioning affects attachment, (2) a functional positioning leads to higher consumers' loyalty, (3) a hedonic positioning leads to the strongest brand personality and credibility and (4) a symbolic positioning seems to be the less useful option in terms of desired effects. Originality/value: First, this paper considers three different subscenarios in launching a new product: hedonic, functional and symbolic brand positioning. The comparison of these three scenarios makes progress with respect to previous research since the connection between consumers' brand attachment and positioning brand strategy has been scarcely addressed to date. Second, no study has been found that assesses the simultaneous effect of four key antecedents capable of enhancing brand attachment (personality, quality, awareness and credibility), causing three major effects (loyalty, purchase intention and decrease in perceived risk). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Actas de Diseño is the property of Facultad de Diseno y Comunicacion, Fundacion Universidad de Palermo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Building on Deleuze and Guattari's theorising of transversality, this paper offers an ethnography of life-with-oil in the city of Esmeraldas, home to Ecuador's largest oil refinery complex and a chokepoint of the country's oil export logistics. The paper elaborates how desires, struggles, and wagers that shape everyday life in the city, which appear peripheral to the formal circulation of oil, are in fact constitutive of how hydrocarbon capital is enacted. Transversal desires move in and out of the logistics of oil flow, sometimes hosting and facilitating, other times choking the dynamics of said flow. I rely on the aesthetics and potentialities of the ethnographic ground to get at the disruptions, ruptures, and shifts through which transversal flows become part of the logistics of oil flow in Esmeraldas, and to remain attentive to what is obscured in master narratives about oil in capitalist systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-constructed cities refer to impoverished neighborhoods that suffer from inadequate housing. Such cities are the result of individual or communal initiatives that must self-construct their neighborhoods. Most of the self-constructed cities are located near endangered bioregions on the Earth, and their continued growth will inevitably aggravate the human impact on our planet. Dwellers in these areas tackle threats such as poverty, environmental degradation, and disaster vulnerability. The lack of knowledge in planning self-constructed cities causes conditions of injustice. However, appropriate management of the existing natural capital of the surrounding areas of such cities can address the mentioned challenges and the conditions for justice. This paper aims to evaluate the role of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in planning procedures, to create conditions of fairness and equity in self-constructed cities. The paper focused on the linkage between the application of NBS and four principles of justice: distributive justice, restorative justice, spatial justice, and interactional justice. Considering data from a review of the literature, scrutiny of past planning and policy measures and a field study with interviews with stakeholders, the empirical result of our study delineates important strategic implications of Nature-Based Solutions for sustainable planning in the case study of San José de Chamanga, Ecuador. It was demonstrated how small-scale, natural-based interventions, instead of broader actions based on a pure engineering perspective, are economically and ecologically profitable, with a positive impact on local communities' well-being and social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous organizations in the Andean countries of Ecuador and Bolivia originated novel proposals to pluralize sovereign arrangements through plurinational statehood. Reflecting diverse Indigenous groups' relations with postcolonial states, these proposals created a unique basis for re-negotiating (sovereign) resource governance. Despite the constitutional endorsement of the plurinational state model however, the latest empirical evidence confirms growing state control over subsoil resources that excises Indigenous peoples from decision-making over resources. In this paper, we trace the emergence of novel agendas for sovereignty-multiplicity, showing how Indigenous agendas had anticipated the need to go beyond their rights over subsoil resources and autonomous territories. These agendas implied re-negotiating national sovereignty in light of the countries' internal ethno-political and epistemic heterogeneity. Under nominally plurinational states however, resource governance outcomes perpetuate and normalise longstanding epistemic and power differentials between rights-bearing political subjects and Indigenous subjects. We highlight the colonial-modern bases of current sovereignty arrangements, identifying the presumptions and legal parameters that shape the dynamics between states, people and Indigenous people. Situating resource governance in relation to the concept of modernity/coloniality, we propose to (re)think sovereignty arrangements in the colonial present in light of internal heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Stroke is the second most common cause of death and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally. However, the incidence and impact of stroke by ethnicity and gender is frequently distinct. This is particularly the case in Ecuador where geographic and economic marginalization are often correlated with ethnic marginalization and the extent to which females lack the same opportunities as their male counterparts. The aim of this paper is to investigate the differential impacts in terms of stroke diagnosis and burden of disease by ethnicity and gender, using hospital discharge records over the years 2015-2020. Methods: This paper calculates stroke incidence, and fatality rates using hospital discharge and death records over the years 2015-2020. The DALY package in R was employed to calculate the Disability Adjusted Life Years lost due to stroke in Ecuador. Results: The results show that while the incidence rate of stroke in males (64.96 per 100,000 persons-year) is higher than that for females on average (57.84 per 100,000 persons-year), males accounted for 52.41% of all stroke cases and 53% of all surviving cases. Thus, hospital data suggests that females had a higher death rate when compared to males. Case fatality rates also differed significantly by ethnicity. The highest fatality rate corresponded to the Montubio ethnic group (87.65%), followed by Afrodescendants (67.21%). The estimated burden of disease of stroke calculated using Ecuadorian hospital records (2015-2020) varied from 1,468 to 2,991 DALY per 1,000 population on average. Discussion: Differences in the burden of disease by ethnic group are likely to reflect differential access to care by region and socio-economic group, both of which are frequently correlated with ethnic composition in Ecuador. Equitable access to health services remains an important challenge in the country. The gender discrepancy in fatality rates suggests that there is a need for targeted educational campaigns to identify stroke signs early, especially in the female population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the Ecuadorian public diplomacy to the European audience. Public diplomacy is focused on soft power. Socialism of the 21st century background is mentioned in this paper with the aim of the construction of a country image to accelerate the local socio-economic development in the international arena. The conceptual framework of this research was designed to address this correlation between governance, and socio-economic development to contribute to our current understanding of the role of locality in public management and to describe the theory and practice of urban marketing as a greater engagement with Ecuadorian public diplomacy. Urban marketing is a fundamental support for these. Citizens, businesses, governments and employees are a policy priority due to the fact that cities are a key factor for the new industrial scenario to converge all segments of society. In addition, the paper briefly presents the highlight of the former president Rafael Correa Delgado as best national representative of soft power use in an Ecuadorian single country case study from a sociological spectrum. The methodology applied is both primary and secondary sources including various books in Spanish language, the Constitution of Ecuador, journal articles, Ecuadorian government reports and implementation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic's early stages severely impacted global fisheries, particularly areas heavily reliant on imported food and tourism like the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. To contain the spread of the virus, a full lockdown was implemented. However, the collapse of the tourism industry precipitated the worst economic crisis in the history of this multiple-use marine protected area. This paper examines the impact of the pandemic's early stages on consumption patterns and seafood security in the Galapagos from consumers' perspective, drawing on online surveys conducted during the lockdown. Our findings revealed pre-existing seafood insecurity across the archipelago, further exacerbated by the pandemic on the least-populated island. Nevertheless, the seafood system displayed moderated resilience to the pandemic's socioeconomic disruptions. A variety of adaptive responses were adopted by Galapagos residents to cope with the lockdown. Consumers modified their seafood consumption habits, while fishers adapted their harvesting and marketing strategies. Such adaptive responses were shaped by the unique socioeconomic characteristics of each inhabited island and the ability of seafood suppliers to shift from a tourism- and export-oriented to a resident- and domestic-oriented market. This transition has created novel opportunities to foster a systemic transformation of the Galapagos seafood system to enhance its resilience against future crises caused by new pandemics, climate change, or other natural and anthropogenic drivers of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of green advertising and eco-labels on the attitudes and environmental awareness of millennials purchasing eco-friendly products in shopping centers across Ecuador. The research utilized a quantitative, correlational, cross-sectional methodology with 430 millennials participating. A 20-item survey was administered face-to-face at shopping centers in Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador. The validity of the research model was established through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), employing SPSS 20 and AMOS 24 for statistical evaluations. Findings reveal that green advertising significantly shapes environmental attitudes (β: 0.245) and awareness (β: 0.110), as well as directly influences the purchasing behavior (β: 0.154) towards green products. While eco-labels do not exert a direct effect on purchasing behavior (β: 0.128), they significantly inform attitudes (β: 0.406) and ecological awareness (β: 0.277) of millennials who purchase organic products. This paper is among the pioneering research to delineate the correlation between green advertising elements and the purchasing patterns of green products among millennials in a developing nation. It concludes that marketing strategies centered on green advertising and eco-labels do affect millennials' attitudes and environmental consciousness, but only advertising has a direct impact on purchasing behaviors, contrary to eco-labels. The research bears social significance as it affirms that millennials are attentive to environmental issues and are actively engaged in promoting sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conjuntura Austral is the property of Conjuntura Austral and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cooperativismo y Desarrollo (COODES) is the property of Universidad de Pinar del Rio and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Historically, Latin America has been a fertile ground for the emergence of populism. Scholars have identified several waves of populist governments flourishing in the region during the last century. The third wave began in the 2000s when leftist leaders came to power in some Latin American countries, a phenomenon called "the Pink Tide". Two of the most notable examples of populist governments in this wave were Evo Morales in Bolivia (2006-2019) and Rafael Correa in Ecuador (2007-2017). Both leaders promoted an anti-elitist rhetoric highlighting a confrontational divide between domestic elites (as perpetrators of injustices) and the people (as victims). This rhetoric also involved external actors. The relationship with the great powers was permeated by the populist discourse based on the logic of "them vs. us". In this context, the paper analyses the rhetoric of Evo Morales and Rafael Correa concerning the role of the European Union in their countries. Primary sources (speeches, press releases and official documents) are examined to understand the image built around the EU and to grasp how populist rhetoric portrayed the EU's role in areas such as trade and migration. The result is a complex assessment of the ideas about the EU disseminated by these leaders, examining how Morales's and Correa's rhetoric evolved over the years and identifying similarities and differences between their approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista Digital de Derecho Administrativo is the property of Universidad Externado de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cuestiones Políticas is the property of Revista Cuestiones Politicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses the importance of understanding the personality traits of teachers and their impact on the educational process. It mentions the existence of stable personality traits and variable personality states that vary over time. It also refers to the five-factor personality model (FFM), which includes the domains of Extraversion, Affability, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. The study is carried out in the context of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Ecuador, where professors perform functions related to teaching, research, extension, and academic management. It is noted that emotional contagion between teachers and students can be relevant in this environment. The paper presents a qualitative analysis based on a Neutrosophic Cognitive Map (NCM) of nine personality traits: Empathy, Openness to Experience, Introversion, Emotional Stability, Kindness and Respect, Flexibility, Excessive Authoritarianism, Neuroticism and Egocentrism. The causal relationships between these traits are highlighted, emphasizing the importance of empathy as a central factor. It discusses how traits such as empathy, kindness, patience, and emotional stability contribute to a positive and productive learning environment. Furthermore, it is noted that the modification of negative traits, such as excessive authoritarianism and egocentrism, can improve the professional development of teachers and benefit students in the long term. Finally, this study is compared with previous research, and it highlights that the results may vary. For example, a study that did not find significant relationships between personality traits and teaching performance is mentioned, while this study suggests that excessive authoritarianism and egocentrism can affect communication with students and the quality of training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that not all types of consumption benefit well-being is not new. However, its recent formalization within the framework of the behavioral and social sciences has led to a rapid expansion of knowledge about the goods that are most effective in increasing happiness. Most evidence has been obtained from the developed world and with a focus on broad categories that ignore meaningful heterogeneities. This paper contributes to this domain by conducting a detailed analysis of the relationship that happiness has with a variety of market goods and with aggregate measures of purchasing power. We do this using the data of Ecuador, a country characterized by a relational-oriented culture, high collectivist values, structural inequalities, and weak political institutions. Throughout the paper, we tested various hypotheses related to this particular context. The results show that consumption is superior to income as a predictor of happiness. Higher levels of happiness can also be seen among people who spend more on relational and time-saving goods; less on health and alcohol; and own a good quality of dwelling. As for basic goods, some seem beneficial in the whole sample analysis, but they exhibit a stronger relationship with happiness among the poor. Additionally, we find that, in most cases, public goods as well as paying taxes correlate negatively with happiness. Moreover, we identify some heterogeneities that shed light on the behavior of the poor and that reflect unequal distribution of household tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional knowledge, much like scientific knowledge, is the product of observation and reflection from the relationship between people and their habitat. This paper documents the first inventory of native names and ethnozoological information of snakes in the language of the Shiwiar-Chicham (SC) and Kichwa (KW), for those territories located in the Pastaza and Napo basins, Amazonia of Ecuador. Additionally, we analyzed the diversity of native names with the Shannon-Wiener index (D). A total of 50 snake species are inventoried, where 36 species (80%) and 49 (100%) snakes possessed a name in the SC and KW languages, respectively. The KW language (D = 4.02) presented a greater diversity of names assigned to snakes, in comparison to the SC language (D = 3.04). The great cultural and linguistic diversity demonstrates that there is still a need to document and safeguard the ethnozoological knowledge related to snakes in the Amazon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas are considered the backbone of biodiversity conservation, but their management often fails because local people are not involved, and their needs are ignored. A socioecological approach has been demonstrated to be effective in improving the relationship between conservation efforts and human wellbeing through a better understanding of the interdependence between nature and people. This relationship can be observed through the case of the Kichwa indigenous communities within Yasuní National Park, Ecuador, as they have retained a very close relationship with forest ecosystems. Using key respondent interviews, along with semi-structured interviews and focus groups, this research describes the complex relationship between changing forest ecosystems and human wellbeing. The results highlight food, health, and cultural identity as the most important benefits that communities obtain from forests. The research also sheds light on how people in the investigated area perceive the dynamics of socioecological systems, indicating petroleum, infrastructure development, and small-scale agriculture as the most important direct drivers and land governance and the presence of colonists as the most important indirect drivers of changes to forest ecosystems. This paper demonstrates the importance of monitoring socioecological systems and adapting management to balance complex economic, social, and ecological challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]